The Hardscrabble Heiress
by Madame Renard
Summary: Illegitimate or not, she was still Abigail Hardscrabble's daughter.
1. The Sad Girl In the Car

"Nate!"

A tall snake monstress stood at the counter, putting together the last of her kids' lunches. Her daughter sat at the table, munching on a slice of toast and pouring over a book. Abigail Flint was a solemn, quiet child, but that could be explained by her awkward appearance. Her body had a leathery-like quality to it, but her face was long and snouted like her mother's. She also had eyestalks, but not her mother's beautiful fins to offset them.

"Abby, go get your brother up, please," Bonnie pleaded over her shoulder. Abby nodded and scuttled off to wake her brother. The girl had quickly learned how to maneuver her many centipede legs, despite having not much help from Bonnie.

A few minutes later, a little monster slithered into the kitchen and yawned. "Morning, mom."

"Good morning, sleepyhead. Did you brush your teeth?"

"Yeah-huh."

"Let me see." Nate dislocated his jaw and showed his entire mouth to his mother. Bonnie hummed as she inspected them. "Circles, Nate. Remember what the dentist said?" she reminded him. "Have some breakfast. Quickly, we need to leave soon. Do you two have everything packed for school?"

"Yeah," "Yes," the two monsters answered simultanously. Bonnie smiled and sat their lunches in front of them. Nate stuffed his toast into his mouth as Abby finished off hers. After breakfast, Bonnie ushered the two out the door and tossed her bag over her shoulders before grasping her children's hands. They passed a couple of neighbors as they walked, Bonnie giving them a polite greeting and her children waving.

Nate waved to a boy his age, and Bonnie noticed he didn't do anything more. She nudged him. "Why don't you go talk to him? Maybe he wants to be friends with you." There might not be much hope for his sister, but perhaps she could convince _one_ of her children to be social.

Nate just shook his head.

"Why not?"

The boy shrugged.

She sighed. Well, she wouldn't force him. She could only hope he would come around eventually.

Once they got to the school, Bonnie leaned down to kiss Nate on the forehead and Abby on the eyestalk. "Be careful after school, okay? Look both ways before you cross the street. Hold hands. Look out for each other. Got it?"

"Yeah." "Yes."

"Have a good day, you two. I love you."

"Love you too, Mom." "Bye, Mama."

As Bonnie waved to them and left, an expensive sports car zoomed past the school. Bonnie stopped to look at it for a moment. Abby and Nate watched it pass.

Abby squinted. There was a girl in there.

"Mummy, that place looks fun!"

"Don't be ridiculous, darling. You'll be going to the best school. Not some substandard _trash heap_."

Her father chuckled.

* * *

"I didn't do the homework."

Abby sighed and passed Nate the worksheet. "You're the best, sis!" he laughed, scribbling down the answers.

The two watched as their class participated in recess. They usually sat on a park bench or a table, observing their classmates from afar. Many attempts to get them involved by the teachers have failed, so now the two are mostly left alone.

"So, what do you think about that car?" Nate asked her slyly as he finished copying her homework.

"Huh?"

"The car. The one Mom was staring at."

"She was staring at it?"

"Uh-huh. What do you think it is?"

Abby was quiet for a moment. "I don't know," she admitted.

"Must be something important, right?"

"She won't tell us."

"I know."

A pause, then Abby spoke again. "There was a girl in it."

"A girl?"

"Yeah. She looked...sad."

* * *

After school, the two walked hand-in-hand to their mother's work. Monsters Incorporated was just nearby in the small city of Monstropolis, and a few kind monsters helped the two children on their way. Once they opened the doors to the factory, they made their way to the reception desk and knocked on the metal paneling.

"Hello, you two," Celia giggled as she leaned over the counter to see the gradeschoolers. "Your mom's in the sim room."

"Training?" Abby asked. Celia nodded.

"Then can we see Mike and Sulley?" Nate asked excitedly. The medusa-haired monstress giggled again. "I'm sure they'd be happy to see you both. They're on Scare Floor F. Remember where that is?"

"We can find it," Abby intoned dully as Nate pulled her away. They made their way through the halls of the factory, only pausing to avoid Mrs. Nesbitt and her children horde. The two stuck their tongues out in mutual distaste for the woman.

"We gotta find a good prank for her," the boy said.

"Agreed."

They scrambled over to Scare Floor F, pausing just outside the entrance. Nodding to Nate, Abby crawled under Roz's window and out of sight of the slug. Nate followed her lead, and together they emerged onto the Scare Floor.

The Scare Floor was in full action, doors shuffling in and out and various monsters entering and leaving the human world. Nate pulled his sister along to Mike and Sulley's station and hid under the desks, watching the action unfold-Nate watching with rapt attention, Abby observing with sharp eyes.

"I wonder where the doors go," Nate whispered.

"To the Door Vault," Abby whispered back.

"Door Vault?"

"It's the huge thing in the back of the factory. They store millions of _billions_ of doors there, for all the kids in the human world!"

"Ohh. Neat." Nate looked back onto the Scare Floor. "Hey, I think Sulley might in the human world now."

Just then, a blue-furred fanged smile was immediately in front of them. Screaming, the two children jumped up and slammed both their heads against the underside of the desk. "Ow!" "Ow."

A deep chuckle echoed as Sulley climbed off the desk and helped the two out from under it. "Hey, Mikey! Check out who came to see us."

"Well, look who's over the line," Mike teased in a light tone. "Came to see the experts, huh kiddos?"

"Mike! Sulley!" Nate cheered as his sister brushed herself off. The boy scrambled over to the two monsters and hugged them. After the boy started to talk to Mike, Sulley noticed that Abby had hung back. He knelt down to her level as best as he could.

"Hey, Abby. Have a good day at school?" he asked gently. Abby nodded solemnly and readjusted her backpack.

Sulley frowned. "Something bothering you?"

Abby thought about the car. "Nothing you can tell me."

"Oh. Well...how about your mom?"

"She won't tell me."

"I see." Sulley paused, then decided not to push it farther. "Hey, you been working on that roar?"

Abby looked up at him, a sparkle gleaming in her eye. Pulling her backpack off, she adjusted herself into a crouching position and extended her tiny claws. Taking a deep breath, she gave her best roar. It sounded childish, but Sulley pretended to be scared anyway.

"That was pretty good," he praised as Abby shrugged her backpack back on.

"It was too high," the girl replied in disappointment.

"Hey." Sulley put his huge paws on her shoulders. "You're just a little monster. It won't be perfect right now. But if you keep practicing, it will be."

Abby looked down for a moment before looking back up again with a hesitant smile. "I guess."

"Yeah, that's right. Scare champ!" Sulley put up a fist and Abby punched it.

"Scare champ."

* * *

"So, have fun on the Scare Floor today?" Bonnie asked as her children waved to her useless trainees. She smiled when they both looked guilty. "I got a call from Celia. _And_ Roz," she added, raising a fin at Abby in particular. The girl looked shocked that Roz had spotted her. "Just be careful, okay? What do I always say?"

"Never go near the doors," they repeated.

"Right." She shuffled her paperwork and placed it neatly in her bag. "Well, no harm done, I guess. Ready to go?"

The kids nodded, taking their mother's hands. Sulley's words rang in Abby's ears for the rest of the night, even after dinner. The girl's legs clicked as she entered her room and set her backpack down on her bed. Crawling under her bed, she pulled out a poster and spread it across her bed after making sure her mother and brother wouldn't come in.

She stared at it. Her namesake, Abigail Hardscrabble, was raised up and ready to strike. Her claws were fully extended out, her centipede legs splayed out.

Abby growled at it, putting her claws in the air. The poster, predictably, didn't change.

Abby growled louder, sticking her arms higher. She tried raising her legs in the air, but she couldn't balance on her back legs. Stumbling back, she fell on her armored backside. The carpeting of her room didn't hurt, but she didn't move. Silence filled the room for a tense moment...before a choked sob broke it.

The little girl's shoulders started to shake and tears dropped down her face.

"I'm sorry, Mother," she cried. "I'm sorry..."

* * *

A/N: don't ask me how two female monsters gave birth. this fandom is filled to the brim with mpreg we could probably do with some fempreg don't u think ?


	2. A 13 Year Old Monstress

Sunlight streamed through the window and bathed a rumpled queen bed. In the middle of stacks of pillows laid Ms. Flint, sleeping peacefully with her arms crooked at odd angles.

Suddenly, the door cracked open. Luckily, the monstress didn't hear. The intruder slipped in and quietly shut the door. A shadow crawled along the floor, carefully avoiding stacks of paper and scraps of clothing that littered the floor.

The mysterious monster climbed up on the bed, raised its claws, and...

_Roar!_

Bonnie struck up in bed, sending the shadow tumbling to the other side. The older one sighed in relief as she recognized her now teenage daughter on the bed. "Oh, Abigail. You're really getting good, you know," she praised tiredly. "Ah...what time is it?"

"Still early," Abby replied, sitting down on the bed next to her. "We just wanted to ask...can Nate and I go and get ice scream after school? Everyone else is going." She even fluttered her lashes. "Please?"

Bonnie looked like she wanted to protest, but the idea of her children socializing was far too tempting. "Oh, alright. But have your phones on you at _all times_, you understand?"

"Yes!" Abby jumped on her mother and wrapped her in a hug. "Thank you, Mama!"

The snake monstress smiled as she returned the embrace. It wasn't often that Abby openly showed affection towards her. "You're welcome. Do you need money?"

A pause, then a shy smile from the girl. "Ha, ha. Alright, go get my purse," Bonnie replied.

As Abby jumped off the bed, Bonnie noticed her daughter had popped the collar of all her frilled dress shirts and layered them with a leather jacket. It reminded her greatly of...

"Abby, are you really wearing that to school?" the monstress sighed. Abby stopped, turned, and stared at her.

"...alright."

* * *

"I wish we were _really_ going to get ice scream," Nate sighed. Abby scuttled alongside him, her back arched and her expression serious.

"Stop whining," Abby hissed sharply, peering over a map. "I'll sneak out during lunch and get you some ice scream if you're really helpful."

"How are we even gonna get in this place? I heard it's got tighter security than the factory."

"Well, we've got plenty of experience breaking into there. It shouldn't be hard."

Unfortunately, 'tight security' turned out to be a twelve foot stone wall surrounding the private school. The two preteens looked at the intimidating sight, and then looked at each other. Abby smiled at Nate.

"It better have chocolate chips and sprinkles," Nate snapped. He scanned the wall up and down. "I don't even know if I can fly that high carrying your fat butt."

"It'll have anything you want on it," Abby tried to persuade him.

Nate sighed, turned, and grasped under Abigail's arms. There was a whoosh of air as he unfurled the huge dragon wings from his back. Flapping them heavily, he began his ascent up the stone wall with his sister in his arms.

"Good thing Mother's...such a great flyer," he grunted through gritted fangs, straining under the weight. His wings flapped noisily behind him as he desperately tried to gain altitude.

"Don't talk about Mother," Abby snarled, but attempted to climb the wall with her centipede legs to put some of the weight off. It didn't help much, but Nate appreciated the effort anyway.

Finally, they reached the top of the wall. Dumping his sister off, Nate collapsed on the edge to catch his breath. Meanwhile, Abby stood standing, squinting at the large and exquisite private school that stood. It was almost like a castle, surrounded with huge stone walls.

"So...explain to me what we're doing here, again?" Nate panted.

"This is where Arabella goes to school."

"Arabella, our...half-sister."

"_She's no sister of ours!_" Abby roared, turning on him. Her eyes were wide as she glared fiercely down at her frightened brother, breathing heavily in rage . "S-Sorry! Sorry!" Nate quickly amended, but Abby had already turned away again.

"To think Mother would have another child," she fumed to herself, shaking her head. "The Professor isn't scarier than Mama. I'm _much_ scarier than she is. Mother doesn't need her!"

"Abby?"

"_What?!_"

"Why do you think Mother left Mom?"

Abby stared at him. "How do you know it wasn't the other way around?"

"I've seen the way she looks at Mother's pictures," Nate answered simply, shrugging. "I don't think Mom would leave Mother. I think Mom still likes her."

The young monstress didn't want to think of what her mother felt. "I don't know," she said honestly. "But when Mother notices how scary we are, I'm sure she'll love Mama again."

"I hope so," Nate replied, getting to his tail. "Mom always looks so sad." He extended his arms out, and Abby crawled into them. With a swooping gust, the boy took off the wall and sailed down into the inner compound of the school.

Once on the ground, the two made their way into the building. To sneak past the front desk, Abby used a scarer technique of crawling on the ceiling with minimal noise. Luckily, the receptionist was on the phone, so her legs weren't a dead giveaway. The two ran through the halls and up the stairs.

"Where is she, anyway?" Nate panted.

"She's the same age as us. The classrooms are on the third floor."

"So you don't know what classroom she's in?" A nervous smile from Abby made him groan. Once they reached the third floor, they realized the windows into the classrooms didn't provide them with an adequate view. Abby glanced at Nate, then pointed up at the ceiling. Nate flew her up there for Abby to take out one of the panels in the ceiling and climb in. The two crawled along in the dusty, dark space until Abby stopped.

A piece of the tiled ceiling came off to be replaced by Abby's eyestalks poking out.

"See her?" Nate whispered. Silver eyes scanned the classroom. The girl reared back up and replaced the panel quietly. "Nope, not here. Let's try the next one."

"Do you even know what she _looks_ like?"

"I'll know when I see her!"

They tried a few other classrooms before Abby finally gasped. A girl was sitting in the front row who had striking horns on the back of her head and a familiar long neck. Her face and body were splattered in yellow and orange, but Abby knew her all the same. It was Arabella Knight, and, according to any sources, the legendary Abigail Hardscrabble's only daughter.

Abby whirled up and replaced the panel. "I found her," she hissed to Nate. She scrambled over to the panels in the front of the classroom, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Can I help?" Nate asked.

The girl blinked and paused. "Well...oh, I know! Can you fly around the room and make that weird noise?"

Nate brightened, rustling his wings. "Gotcha."

His sister nodded and went to remove the panel, but hesitated. Nate smiled at her gently. "Hey. You got this, Abby. _You're_ Mother's daughter, not that girl. Now go and _prove it_."

Looking at him for a moment, Abby nodded seriously and stood. With a mighty crack, she slammed her foreleg through the panel and broke it, sending herself plummeting into the classroom.

She landed on the desk with a heavy slam, all thirty of her legs clacking at once. Rubble and broken bits of the panel fell and settled around her as her silver eyes gleamed in the dust cloud. The teacher and the students all gasped and turned their attention to her.

There was a screeching sound in the air as a shadow flew around the room. Having done his part, Nate settled down at a respectable distance to observe his sister, perched high upon the desk.

Abby took a deep breath, glaring at everyone in the room before her eyes settled on the girl in the front row. "I am Abigail Hardscrabble the second," she announced clearly to the room. "Abigail Hardscrabble's true heiress to her name! And I challenge you, Arabella Knight, to fight me for it!" She pointed a claw right at Arabella, who looked incredibly shocked. Her jaw was wide open and she glanced around at her classmates nervously.

"W-what? But I..." Arabella said weakly. Abby snorted at her voice. It sounded frail, and not at all like her own confident voice. How could _this_ be her mother's daughter? "I...I don't know how to fight."

This, Abby did not expect. Her eyes widened and she stuttered. Nate even looked shocked. The teacher, a large, multipled-eyed tentacle monster, took this time to get his classroom under control. "Alright, Miss-"

"NO!" Abby howled, lunging forward to grab Arabella by the dress. "You're going to fight me whether you like it or not!" She threw Arabella on the ground and pinned her by the neck, rearing back her fist. The other girl struggled under her, trying to toss Abby off of her, but with both centipede halves the girls were an even match. The class was in a frenzy, all backed into corners as papers and notebooks flew. Abby punched her a couple times before the teacher scrambled over to them.

Nate noticed the teacher about to break them up, and knew Abby would be bitter and disappointed if she didn't have her full fight. So with a strong flap of his wings and a rush of wind, he shot forward and grabbed the two struggling girls. The entire class gasped and watched as the boy sailed towards the parking lot with two fighting girls in tow. Well, one fighting girl, and the other screaming in fear.

"Stop screaming like a human child and _fight_ _me!_" Abby screamed, tears pricking her eyes. The two girls tumbled out of Nate's grip as he made a clumsy landing. Almost immediately, Abby scrambled over to her half-sister and pinned her down again.

Her fist shook in the air, but she couldn't land a punch. "Why?" she cried, tears rolling down her eyestalks. A few droplets dripped from her face and landed on a shocked Arabella's. "Why do you get to be her daughter? It's not fair...it should be me. It should be me!"

"Don't cry..." Arabella croaked, a small, bloody smile adorning her bruising face. "My sister shouldn't be sad."

That only enraged Abby further. "WE. ARE **NOT**. _SISTERS!_" she roared, opening her fist to slash across Arabella's face. The girl cried out, clutching at her face, just as Abby was pulled off by a large monster in a tie. Abby continued to claw at the air and the monster's arms, screaming over and over as she sobbed.

* * *

Abby could feel her mother's thinly veiled rage before Bonnie even spoke. And it was a long time before Bonnie spoke. She had settled things with the principal, drove them both home, and pushed Abby into her room. But when she did finally speak, it in was a clipped, enraged voice.

"You'd better have a good explanation."

Exhausted and beyond upset, Abby couldn't meet her mother's eyes. "I...I just wanted Mother to see...I was better."

Bonnie stormed over to her daughter on the bed. "You lied to me, you broke into a school, you _assaulted_ a little girl. Abigail, you're damn lucky you're not being charged. Is your mother really worth going to jail over?"

Abby was shaking, tears filling her vision. "I...I just want to be her daughter," she pleaded. "I'm better."

Her mother's next words shattered her heart. "You are **not** her daughter. You're _mine_." Bonnie leaned down and roughly laid her collar flat against her shoulders. "You need to stop this obsession with her and face facts. What's wrong with being my daughter, hm? What's the problem with me? Are you ashamed of me?"

"No!" Abby cried, her voice muffled as she hid her face in her hands.

"What, I'm not good enough for you?"

"No!"

"Then what _is it?_"

"I want her to love me, too!" Abby started sobbing, burying her face in her blankets and stuffed toys. "And maybe if I showed her how scary and tough I am, she'd love me!"

Her mother didn't say anything for a minute before the phone started to ring. Abby couldn't see her, but she could hear her slither to the doorway. "You're grounded for a month," her mother said sternly before closing the door.

* * *

"Don't talk about her like that. She's **your** daughter, too. And she loves you and she misses you." A pause. "She wouldn't _be_ this way if her mother had the decency to drop by every once in a while! Or send her a card! Or basically do anything to acknowledge her existence!"

Abby cracked open the door to her bedroom, watching silently as her mother leaned back against the kitchen counter and rubbed her eyes. "I know you'd rather pretend like she doesn't exist, but I'm telling you that if I know her well enough, this is only the beginning. She'll find a way into your life sooner or later, Abigail. In fact, she's pretty much exactly like you. She never gives up _anything_ once she sets her mind on it. And she has her mind set on making you into the mother she's always dreamed of."

A muffled voice over the phone. "Actually, I think I'm doing a pretty damn great job of raising two kids by myself and working to support them at the same time, thanks. And I'll have you know she _does_ love me as a mother, but she wants you to be in her life, too. She absolutely admires you, Abigail. And you don't even know her name, do you?"

Abby's eyes widened. With shaky hands, she silently closed the door and stood in her bedroom, staring at the floor absently. Before she could start crying, she wobbled over to her bed. She almost made it halfway before her legs tangled and she laid on the floor.

Her eyes met her mother's poster under her bed. That was when the tears finally flowed.

* * *

Her brother talked to her later that night, in their secret sibling way of communicating. He would slip pieces of paper through the grate between their two rooms and she would do the same thing.

_U Ok?_ his note read.

_Not sure._

_mom ground u?_

_Yes._

_month?_

_Yes. You?_

_month 2 :/_

_I'm sorry I mixed you up in this._

_Its Ok. Ur my sis. I got yur back :)_

_Even when I'm doing something really stupid?_

_yup_

_Thanks for everything, Nate._

_love ya sis. try 2 sleep. _Along with a crudely drawn Abby snoring away in an equally poorly drawn bed. _p.s. mom loves u 2. i __haeard__ heard her saying it to some1. :)_

Abby sent back a picture of a heart.

* * *

Abby didn't talk to her mother for a long time afterward. Bonnie was content to let her come on her own time, but when Abby turned away from her after two weeks she finally put her tail down. Well, more specfically, she roughly set her coffee mug down on the counter.

"Are you mad at me?" she snapped.

"No," her daughter replied quietly.

"Oh? You're not? How long are you planning to mope around, then?"

"I'm not moping."

Bonnie sighed, shaking her head. She approached her daughter quietly, sitting down next to her on the couch. Abby's eyes rested firmly outside the window, where the rain splashed on the windowpane and rattled the shutters.

"Abby," the snake monstress began gently, "what's wrong? Is it me?"

"No," Abby murmured.

"Your brother? Someone at school?"

"No."

Bonnie swallowed and hesitated. "Your...your mother?"

Abby shrugged. "Not really."

"Then who is it?"

"Me."

Bonnie blinked. "...You?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"...I...something's wrong. Something's wrong with me." The girl's voice cracked and broke on the last word, her face crumbling. Tears flowed from her previously dry eyes as she hid her face in her hands. Feeling her heart break, Bonnie rubbed her daughter's back.

"No, sweetheart, there's nothing wrong with you. Why would say such a thing?" she tutted.

"I-I-no one is like me...I don't fit in. I'm different. And I messed up and now no one likes me. Not even you anymore!" Abby sobbed, curling up at the foot of the couch and pressing herself far into the couch cushions.

Bonnie's thin arms wrapped around her and pulled her into her lap. She rocked her gently, shushing her. "Abby, Abby. Abigail, listen to me. I love you. There is nothing you could do to make me hate you. I love you, and I always will. And I like you, too."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do! You're the scariest little monstress in the whole world. And you're smart, and passionate, and _so_ strong. Abby, you're the strongest monster I know. I wish I could be half as strong as you. You just made a mistake, that's all. And you know what? Everyone makes mistakes. Even me."

"Mother doesn't."

Bonnie snorted. "Your mother has made more mistakes than the both of us combined. But there's nothing wrong with that. It's all a part of growing up. You just have to pick yourself up and learn from it."

Abby had calmed now, snuggled deeply against her mother's chest as she held her. "Mama...do you think there's something wrong with me?"

"No." Golden claws came up to stroke the leathery skin at the base of her eyestalks. "No, I don't. I think you're hurting. I think you're in pain and you don't know what to do it. But you're just a little girl, Abby, you'll figure it out in time."

Abby sniffed, and a few tears soaked through the lapels of Bonnie's blazer. Bonnie ignored it and held her daughter for as long as she needed.

* * *

A/N: So...there it is. I don't know how I feel about this chapter...I don't like it. I know it feels really rushed :/ But I'd like to get it out of the way so I can work the next chapters. P.S. Abby and Nate are around 12 or 13 in this chapter, whereas they were around 8 or so in the last one.


	3. Befriending Arabella

_The Seasonal Creeping Crawl. A technique invented by Louis Clawtre after an event in the human world left children frightened of Santa Claus. This scare is achieved by, as the name impli-_

"Psst. Hey! Abby!"

Abby shut her book in irritation, looking left and right for the source of the sound. Nothing seemed to be around her except a few classmates who had sprawled out on the lawn of the high school to study. Then the rustle of a tree branch caught her attention, and she peered into the leaves to see her worst nightmare smiling at her.

"Hey! I'm up here!"

Abby sputtered, nearly throwing her book in rage. "What are _**you**_ doing here?"

Arabella giggled, smoothing out her pastel dress. "Getting my clothes dirty so I could talk to you, of course."

"What? _Why?_"

"Because I want to be friends!" She patted the space on the branch next to her. "Come up here so we can talk!"

"No!"

"Aw, come on. Look, I know we got off on the wrong pair of legs, but let's talk about it! What do you say?"

Abby looked guarded. "You won't attack me or anything? Because I could take you," she hissed. "_Easily._"

"I know _that_. I just want to talk!" Arabella's light British voice sounded friendly enough, and with the knowledge that she could protect herself, Abby climbed the tree. Arabella giggled and clapped. "Oh, excellent! Excellent! I'm so glad."

"What do you want to talk about?" Abby snapped. "I don't have anything to say to you."

"That's alright! I have plenty to say to you. I've been thinking about it for a while. You know, I secretly hoped for a sister for a long time! And now you're here! It's so _wonderful_!"

"We're not sisters!" the other hissed. "I hate you! And now that I know you, I can barely stand you! How could Mother raise a monster like you?!"

Arabella blinked. Then she smiled and laughed, although she looked a bit hurt. "I knew you'd say something like that, too. I'm not sure how to get you to like me. I'm just so glad you exist."

"I'm not your sister, I never will be," Abby stressed. "We're never gonna _play dolls_ or _talk about boys_ or _tattoo each other_ because I hate you. The only thing I'm interested in is being a great scarer like Mother was."

Arabella was quiet for a second, before smiling at her. "I think you're pretty scary. Much scarier than me," she admitted softly. "We don't have to play dolls or anything like that if you don't want to."

"Jeez!" Abby rolled her eyes. "You're not the sharpest fang in the mouth, are you? I-"

"No, no, I get it. You hate me." Arabella wrung her hands, her centipede legs rustling nervously against the bark. "It's just...I...I really want a friend. And you...you're so cool. It's hard to believe we've sisters. Even half-sisters. I wish I could be as scary as you. And I thought, maybe, if we were friends, I could learn how to be like you."

"So you want to use me?" Abby demanded, her voice loud and clear. She even raised her chin a fraction. "Hoping my skills would rub off on you?"

"No, no! I, ugh, that came out wrong." Arabella grimaced, scratching the nubby spikes on her head. "I just...I just want to hang out with you. I...I just wanted a friend. But...maybe it was stupid of me to come here. I'm always doing stupid things."

Abby's eyes widened as her half-sister hung her head. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come. I should have known it was stupid to try to get you to like me. I-I'll leave you alone."

A hand on her arm stopped her, but the sound of the school bell stopped Abby. Turning to Arabella, she looked a touch gentler. Like a constrictor snake instead of a poisonous one; still dangerous, but wouldn't kill immediately. "Meet me here at three o'clock next week."

* * *

"Arabella. This is...Nate."

The lolita-dressed monstress waved excitedly, only for Nate to half-heartedly raise his hand in return.

"I thought she was our enemy," he whispered to his sister. Abby swallowed, sweating bullets as she fumbled for an excuse.

"She's too pitiful to ignore," she answered hastily.

Arabella waited patiently for them, only for Nate to turn to her. "Hey," he tried to say coolly, clearly fidgeting. "So. Why do you want to be friends with us, again?"

"You guys are _so cool_," Arabella answered, sparkles in her eyes. "Besides, we're siblings! Why shouldn't we try to get along?"

"Because Mother left our mom for your dad?" Nate suggested before Abby elbowed him in the gut. Arabella giggled guiltily. "I know, but hey! We don't have to be all caught up in their thing, do we? We can have our own thing!"

"'Our own thing'?" Nate repeated doubtfully.

"And what would _that_ entail?" Abby added, folding her arms.

"Uh...I don't know. What do you guys like to do?"

"Study," Abby replied swiftly. "Work out?" Nate answered, almost immediately.

"Hm..." Arabella hummed. "Well, we can just try talking, for starters."

"About what?"

"Well, about our lives, silly! I'll go first. Um...I go a private school, but you guys knew that. I take piano and scaring lessons, and...my favorite food is glazed eyeballs. Now you guys!"

Abby and Nate exchanged doubtful glances. Shrugging his shoulders, he decided to go along with it. Whatever Abby was cool with, right? "Uh...I play football? My favorite food is slime tacos, and...I dunno, I just do whatever Abby says."

"I've never had slime tacos!" Arabella giggled, to which Nate muttered something under his breath about rich monsters. "Now it's your turn, Abby!"

The girl shrugged. "I'm not interesting, really. I study scaring and tell Nate what to do."

"What's your favorite food?"

"...Lamb, I guess. I don't eat it very often, though."

"Really? I have it all the time! Aw, I wish you guys could come to dinner sometime!"

"Us too," Nate told her pointedly.

"Oh." Arabella giggled nervously. "I, uh, I'm sorry. I wish I could come to your dinner, too. I-If it makes you feel better."

The two Flint children were surprised to feel that it did.

* * *

These conversations continued monthly until the end of the school year. As they grew older and more independent, Abby and Nate found themselves meeting their half-sister at the park, the ice scream shop, and various places around town. Despite their initial meeting, they soon befriended Arabella.

"So...okay. I have to ask. And I don't want you to get mad, but...um. What...what's your mum like?" Arabella asked shyly, squirming in her seat.

Nate answered her, his arm stretched out across the back of the seat and away from Abby's head. Abby was _very clear_ when she taught him not to do that. "She's usually pretty nice. But damn, the second you disrespect her, you wish you hadn't."

"Mhm," Abby added, taking an entire bite of her ice scream. "She'll tear you in pieces in a second. But other than that, she is very loving. She tries her best to be there for us even though she works a lot."

"Wow. She sounds really great." Arabella swirled her straw in her milkshake.

"What's your dad like?" Nate asked, carefully avoiding the question he clearly wanted to ask.

"Oh...hm." Oddly solemn, the monstress looked down and pursed her lips. "He's...he's great, but he doesn't...understand. Sometimes."

"What do you mean?" Abby asked in a specific tone of hers-quiet, but forceful.

"Oh...I'm not good at scaring. Mummy says I'm just a late bloomer, but...you know how it is with fathers."

"Actually, we don't," Nate pointed out.

"Oh. Hehehe! Sorry!"

* * *

"So, where are you guys going to school?" Arabella asked them in senior year in the park, just to make conversation. She knew the answer already.

"Monsters University," they answered simultaneously. "Jinx," Nate laughed, jabbing Abby in the arm. She still remembers the relief on his face when he got his acceptance letter. Nate had natural potential, but wasn't the brightest student. Luckily, his sister was a great tutor.

"Ha ha. Have fun."

"You're not going?" Abby asked curiously. Nate leaned forward, looking concerned. But Arabella waved them off with a giggle.

"No...with Mum and Dad there, it'd just be awkward, you know? I'm going to Fear Tech."

"Oh." It was a slightly disappointing surprise for the two of them.

"Don't be sad!" Arabella laughed. "I'll still be on campus a lot, probably. I'll still see you. We can hang out!"

"Actually, just stay at Fear Tech," Nate groaned. Arabella giggled at his joke, and even Abby cracked a smile.

"What are you majoring in?" Abby asked her. It was a pointed question, and Arabella frowned guilty.

"Scaring."

"_Bel!_" "_Bella!_"

Arabella put up her hands defensively. "Well, what was I supposed to do? Tell my legendary scarer parents that their only child doesn't want to be a scarer?" she exclaimed. "Are you mad?"

"You'll have to tell them eventually," Abby told her sharply.

"Yeah, and why are you going to school and studying something you hate?" Nate added, throwing his hands up. "Come on, Bel."

"I know," she moaned. "But not now. And anyway, what are you two going to do?"

"'Bout what?" Nate yawned, but his sister was silent.

"About Mummy! You know, the dean?"

"Oh, yeah. Eh, she's just the dean, y'know? Not going to be grading us or anything."

"She's the final authority of who gets to stay in her program! Not to mention, my father will be grading you. Who knows how that will work out."

"Yeah? You think they might try to sabotage us?" Nate laughed and put his arm around Abby in a one-armed hug. "Nah, me an' Abby got it covered. We can do anything together! Right, Ab?"

Abby didn't react to the shaking, nor did she return the embrace, but she did smile.

"Right."

* * *

A month later, five monsters were packed together in Mike's car-the one with, as he boasted, 'six wheel drive'. Mike was obviously driving, with Bonnie in the front seat giving him directions. Sulley was in the back with Nate and Abby, the latter of which had the window seat and the former with the middle. As they passed by the gates of Monsters University, Abby looked up in amazement at the architecture surrounding the massive property. She recognized the two monsters on the roofs of the pillars—the two university presidents immediately succeeding Arthur Clawson—and studied the university crest. As she was gazing at the ironwork, her brother had noticed her look and clammered up to the window so he could squish his face into the glass.

"Whoa...sick," he whistled. "This place looks huge! I can't wait to fly up and check it out."

Normally his mother would chide him for planning to fly off, but she was far too busy arguing with Mike over where exactly the parking lot was. With a lot of frustration, they finally found it. And, true to his word, Nate stretched out his wings as soon as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

However, he was stopped by his sister's hand on his wrist. "Where are you going? We have to get registered. We can sight-see _after_ we move in," she told him sternly.

He blew a raspberry. "I'm _gonna_ go get registered. I'm just gonna _fly_ there. Come on, I'll take you too." And before Abby could protest, his wings began to beat. Giving a short yelp, her claws dug into his arm as she scrambled to cling to him before they were too far off the ground.

"Abby? Nate!" Bonnie's voice called from the ground as she reached out to them. "Come back here!" But they were too far into the sky to hear her. Once Nate had gained altitude, he took off deeper into campus.

Slumping, Bonnie sighed and rubbed her eyes. Sulley patted her shoulder sympathetically. "Come on, they'll be fine."

Up in the air, the two siblings clawed each other for dominance. "You know," Abby huffed, climbing over her brother so that she was perched on his back, "we could just take a tour like everybody else!"

Nate laughed, swinging sharply to the left at the School of Business. "If you haven't noticed, we aren't like everybody else!"

Having gained the dean's wing strength with the structure of Bonnie's lighter body helped develop Nate into a strong flyer. And he _loved_ flying. He had memorized the layout of Monstropolis by heart, and he could pin down a squirrel a hundred feet into the sky. He could easily carry his sister anywhere she wanted, even with her weight on the heavier side. Sometimes, he liked to surprise her with a corkscrew or two.

Like, one straight into the river.

Her screams of terror soon morphed into a creative slew of curse words once he pulled out of the corkscrew, blasting several students with the force of his gale. Snorting in laughter, he ignored the punches on his horns and beat his wings out to sail over the quad.

As he suspected, the punches slowed to a stop as they gazed upon the renown School of Scaring. Their mother's school. And it was impressive.

"Whoa..." Abby breathed quietly, her eyes wide. After she had gotten her fill, Nate asked to see the map. Of course, she had it tucked away in her university jacket pocket.

Nate peered at it, then pointed to a building by the side of the Scare School. "That's the registration building." Upon looking at said building, he noticed students lined up in front of a booth run by a very happy monster. "Looks like that's registration. Hang on, sis!"

Luckily, he refrained from a corkscrew this time.

* * *

After that, they had split. Mike and Sulley were helping Nate move in, while Bonnie helped her daughter with her things. Bonnie tried to talk to Abby, but the girl had been unusually quiet around her lately.

"Are you excited?" the snake monstress asked as they weaved through students in the hallway with their bags. Abby only hummed in reply.

They unlocked the door to her room, but no one was in there yet. "Looks like you've got first dibs," Bonnie laughed. Abby picked the bed on the right side of the room and began to unpack her things. Her mother helped where she could, but mostly she just stood there with her hands locked. "Do you want me to leave? Am I embarrassing you?"

Abby shook her head; her mother's terrifying appearance only added to the fear she wanted to strike in others...and she knew she wasn't going to be seeing her for a long time. Throwing her stuff together in piles she could easily sort through later, she glided over to the window overlooking the School of Scaring.

With the door shut, Bonnie came up behind her and stroked her eyes softly. Abby closed her eyes, but remained rigidly at attention.

"What are you going to do about your mother?" Bonnie asked quietly, for the first time.

"Nothing," Abby replied. It was obviously rehearsed. "It's up to her what she's going to do about me, isn't it?"

Bonnie chuckled. "I suppose it is. But are you sure you want to do this? Fear Tech is just as good of a school."

"I'm going to pretend like you didn't just say that." Smiling, Abby turned to look her mother in the eye. "You of all people should know that MU is the best place for a future scarer."

_But it's not the best place for the Dean's illegitimate children_, is what Bonnie wanted to say. But she faked a smile and rubbed Abby's eyestalks softly. "That's right."

* * *

The group met up again outside of the dorms. Mike and Sulley were talking amongst themselves as Nate slithered up to his sister.

"You'll never guess who my roommate is," he blurted out before she could even say anything. Blinking, Abby looked at him curiously.

"_Rex_. Y'know, Rex Boggs?"

"Oh."

"I _hate_ him! He's so annoying!" Nate bared his teeth and rolled his eyes. "'Looks like we're gonna be best _buds_, Nate!' What a chump."

Abby nodded supportively.

"What about you?"

"Apparently, she dropped out."

"What?"

"Yes, I asked the front desk and they told me she had dropped out the day before."

"So you have a room all to yourself, then! Lucky!"

"I suppose..."

"Hey, you still got that map? I want to scope out this place thoroughly." Upon receiving said map, he grinned. "Nice. Hey, text me when Mom's ready to leave. I'll see you later." And with that, he was off. Abby looked around to see Sulley in conversation with her mother and Mike observing the aquatic students by Troll Bridge. Pausing a moment, she shuffled over to where Mike was and waited patiently for him to acknowledge her presence.

"Oh, hey, kid. Didn't see ya there." He didn't disappoint. "How're ya likin' this place so far?"

"Very beautiful," Abby answered, her hands clasped together. "Mike, I have a question."

"Shoot, kid. Anything."

She fidgeted, hesitating. She had grown into her mothers' heights, reaching a full 7'7", so like her mothers, she towered over Mike. But he noticed, in these moments, she seemed fragile and small. Nothing but a little girl who was so very unsure of herself.

"What's she like?" she whispered.

He thought she might ask that. Sighing, he turned back to the river and mulled it over. Abby approached him quietly, peering over the edge of the bridge to see the School of Aquatics.

"Know what, kid?" he told her, finally. "She's a lot like you."

Abby blinked, and her voice left her. "R-Really...?"

"Yeah. She's a tough nut to crack, that's for sure. But, y'know, for all her 'Dean of the School of Hard Knocks' schtick, she's really not so bad. Just like you. You put up a wall sometimes, you know. Like you want to be mean, but you're actually a really sweet kid."

"I...I see." Abby swallowed. 'Sweet' wasn't a good quality in a scarer. "...Do you think she knows?"

"I don't know. She knows a lot, but...she doesn't know a lot, at the same time." Mike pat her arm comfortingly. "But don't stress yourself out about her. Besides, who wouldn't like a scary gal like you?"

The girl smiled and giggled. "Thanks, Mike."

Once it was time for the adults to leave, Mike and Sulley said their goodbyes before Bonnie. Sulley wished them good luck, and Mike told her to call if she needed anything. Once it was Bonnie's turn, the snake monstress tenderly embraced the both of them.

"Good luck, you two. I know you're going to be just fine. Call me if you need anything, or just to talk. And don't forget, you can come home any time you want." Pulling back, she kissed Abby on the eye and Nate on the forehead. "I know you can do it."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Bye, Mama."

"Goodbye. Have fun." Hesitantly, she pulled away from the two and sniffed before getting in the car. Abby and Nate stood and watched as the three of them left, waving the whole time.

"Think she's gonna be okay?" Nate muttered to his sister.

"Hm. We may have to come home a few times."

* * *

A/N: finally picking up this story again...sorry about all the timeskips, but we've finally caught up to present time now! yay! most of the story will be told from abby's first year.

p.s. if you want to check out little scribbles i've done of the kids, check out my tumblr: abigail-hardscrabble()tumblr()com/tagged/hardscrabble-heiress


	4. First Day of Class

The first day of classes fell on a beautiful fall day. The trees were still green, the weather was still warm, and students took their sweet time walking to class in their various buildings. Strangely dressed in a heavy sweatshirt, Abby herself crept slowly to class, her copy of _Scare Theory Volume. VII _by Karl G. Eyegout and an MU notebook stashed in her shoulder bag. Once she reached the steps of the Scaring School, she heard a familiar rush of wings.

"Sis! You gotta touch the _foot!_"

She leveled her brother with a well-perfected look. "The _foot_?" she repeated slowly, raising her eyelid slightly.

Nate pointed to the statue on their left, its taloned foot sticking from the pedestal. Students filed into the building in a line, all of them patting the metal talon before entering. Unimpressed, Abby continued her way into the school until she felt a tug on her arm.

"It's for luck! They say you have no chance of making it in the scare program if you don't touch the foot on the first day."

"That's nothing but a superstitious rumor. Our chances of making it in the scare program do not depend upon me touching the sweaty bacteria of our fellow scare students."

"Come on, Abby! We'll need all the luck we can get." Her brother pouted childishly. "The odds are kinda screwing us right in the ass."

"Don't be crude."

"I'll stop if you touch the foot."

Abby glared at him for a full few seconds before sighing. "Fine. I'll touch the filthy foot," she grumbled, scrambling furiously over to the statue and very quickly and hesitantly tapping the talon. Shaking off her hand, she wiped it on her sweatshirt and returned to Nate.

"Happy?" she snapped.

Nate grinned widely, his overbite showing off his extremely pointed canines. "Yep." Glancing up to the entrance, he nodded to Abby. "Ready?"

The twins each pulled up the hood of their sweatshirt over their heads. Even though it was still hot outside, the last thing they needed was to bring attention to themselves. The fastest way to do that was to bear a striking similarity to the Dean herself.

Walking into the classroom was an experience for many freshmen. It was built more like an auditorium, with the dome of the School of Scaring rising above them. The stained glass skylights lit the room in a deep orange, highlighting the statues of renown scarers who later became academics. Abigail Hardscrabble's was among them, notably with a missing scream canister on the pedestal.

Abby only spared it a glance before heading to the back of the classroom. A seat in the back wasn't an ideal learning seat, but she couldn't risk exposing herself just yet. Besides, she had nearly memorized all her textbooks.

Her brother took the seat beside her, kicking back in his chair. "Hey, got a pencil?" he whispered to Abby, who reluctantly gave him one. He then proceeded to doodle on his desk, which was already worn with scratches and artwork.

"You're not going to learn a single thing in this class, are you?" Abby sighed.

"Hey, it's the first day of class! No one teaches on the first day."

"Alright, students!" boomed a voice. "Welcome to Scaring 101." A large orange monster stomped his way into the center of class just as the last student sat down. The two Flint children's eyes flew open and they exchanged shocked glances. Then they both checked their schedules.

_MWF - Scaring 101 - Instructor: D. Knight_

"This is bad," Abby whispered.

Nate was more flustered. "What do we do? What do we do?"

"Calm down. We just have to-"

At that moment, a screech came from the window. Every student's head snapped up to see a figure in the window, scarlet wings extended. The creature flew around the dark room, making harsh noises as they went. Suddenly, they landed in the middle of the room with their wings drawn about their face.

Red wings parted to expose Abigail Hardscrabble's grinning face.

"Good morning, Abigail!" Knight greeted. "Come to see the fresh meat?"

Hardscrabble didn't answer, rather she skittered along the room and sized up each and every monster for herself. Abby and Nate shrunk back into their sweatshirts, but something caught Hardscrabble's eye.

A flash of silver beneath the hood.

Hardscrabble murmured something, but neither the students nor Knight caught what it was. Before her husband could ask, she was already motioning for Abby to stand. "You there. Yes, you in the sweatshirt in 80 degree weather. Stand up."

Seeing no other option, Abby decided to follow her orders. Luckily, the room was dark enough that no one could see her centipede half-a dead giveaway of her Hardscrabble blood.

"What's your name?" the dean's voice cut clearly through the room.

Abby swallowed harshly and closed her eyes. Steeling herself, she drew back her hood and revealed her face. It looked too much like her snake mother's to draw attention, but her leathery skin looked oddly familar. "Abigail, ma'am," she answered just as clearly. "Abigail Flint."

Hardscrabble's eyes widened the tiniest fraction before her face split into a wicked smile. "Abigail?" she repeated, barely containing the laugh in her voice. "Your name is Abigail?"

"Yes." Abby was fully aware she was named after her mother. It was impossible to be such a fan of the ex-scarer and not know her first name. In fact, it was almost common knowledge. But she never understood why her mother did so. Why name your daughter after the woman who left you?

"I see." The smile slowly morphed into a smirk as she visibly relaxed. "Well, then. Let's hope you are as good as your namesake." Giving her a slight wink, she turned and extended her wings. "Carry on, love," she said to Derek as she beat her wings. When she gained enough altitude, she flew out the window and into the sunshine.

Abby had since sat down, but she couldn't help staring out the window for a few more seconds. Unfortunately, every student in the classroom couldn't help staring at _her_.

"Hey, what are you morons lookin' at?" Nate snapped at them, making most of them turn. But a brave boy leaned over to her and asked her, "What that was all about?"

"How should I know?" Abby replied smoothly. "I've never seen her before in my life."

* * *

Having unintentionally made a name for herself, Abby retreated back to her dorm as soon as classes were over. Her mother's slimy husband-er, Professor Knight-had informed them they needed to pass the final exam in that class to remain in the Scaring Program. Although she knew she could pass it without difficulty, it was still comforting to her to dive into a scaring book for a couple of hours.

After she had gotten settled in blankets and some snacks, a knock came from her door. Groaning, Abby untangled herself and tapped over to the door. Opening it, she saw a familiar grinning fanged face.

"Arabella?!"

"'Ello, sis!" The other centipede monstress brushed past her, inviting herself in. "Wow! Is this your room? Where's your roommate? Don't have one?" Before Abby could even stutter out a reply, Arabella sat down on the other bed. "Say, maybe I could live here! Ha ha!"

"What are you doing here?" Abby finally sputtered out.

"Uh, my mum's the dean and my dad's a professor," Arabella spelled out for her like she was a little monstress. "Kinda gonna be here a lot!"

"No, I mean in my room! It's dangerous, they might catch you here. I don't think they'd like us hanging out. Especially after today..."

"Today? What happened?"

Abby explained everything that happened in detail. When she was finished, Arabella puffed her cheeks out in thought. "That's odd! Maybe mummy does recognize you."

"You think?"

"Dunno! But hey, we can go get dinner if you want! Mummy gave me money to go somewhere on campus. We can get something together, my treat!"

"Bella! I sort of have a problem here! What am I going to do about-"

Just then, Nate flew through the window in a mess of wings and a tail. Arabella looked surprised, but Abby barely bat an eyelid. When the monster gathered himself, he drew a cardboard pizza box from under his wings.

"Pizza for the ladies?" he teased, kneeling down as best as he could on his tail. Abby rolled her eyes and flipped open the cover to extract a piece with spider legs on it.

"No thank you?" Nate pouted. Then he noticed his stepsister hadn't yet taken a piece; rather, she was staring at it like she had never seen anything so strange in her life. "What? Oh, I hope you don't mind, I didn't know what you wanted. You got your choice of spider legs or garbage bits. Or I can fly down and steal you a slice from the frat guys." Arabella didn't answer for a moment. "...Bel?"

"I've...never had pizza before," she finally said faintly.

"That's a surprise," Abby intoned sarcastically. "Try the spider legs, they're better. Nate is what he eats."

"Hey!"

"Trash bits say what?"

As the two argued, Arabella reached for a piece with the spider legs. Taking a tentative bite, she chewed it slowly and let the flavor sink in.

Then her face broke into a wide smile.

"I..._love it!_" she squealed, pushing on the two to get their attention. Abby and Nate stopped bickering long enough to smile at Arabella's newfound love. Their smiles changed when they heard yelling coming from outside.

"Where is that guy? He's payin' for that pizza, then he's _dead_!" The three of them made their way to Abby's window to see the brothers of JOX gathered outside the dorm and looking angry. Nate noticeably slunk down out of sight.

"What? You stole this from them?" Abby snapped, kicking him with her foreleg. "From JOX? Are you _serious?_"

"I thought they wouldn't notice," Nate replied with a guilty smile.

"Hey! I think I saw him up there!"

"Time to go!" Sweeping up Abby, he shot out of the window with wings extended high. Beneath his sister's angry protests, he could hear someone cheering and giggling.

"Arabella?! You-?"

"There he is! Hey! Come back here!" Unfortunately, one of the other JOX members had wings as well. They weren't as big or as powerful as Nate's, but he also wasn't weighed down by two hefty centipede girls. As the frat brother gained altitude, Nate yelped.

"Sorry 'bout this!" he warned as he suddenly dived. With his wings folded, he cut faster through the air as they sped towards frat row. As soon as they made it past the bridge and onto the street, Nate dipped low and let go of Abby's claws.

The two girls fell to the ground. Abby landed and skid back on her legs, while Arabella fell flat on her tail. As Arabella groaned and got to her feet, Abby was brushing herself off. "Ugh. What a jerk."

Said jerk was now speeding through the air, whizzing around and sometimes even through the various frat houses. He had drawn quite a crowd for his air show; the other winged monster had trouble even catching up to him, and he wasn't as agile as Nate. The two kept up this chase for a few more minutes before the other eventually landed in pure exhaustion.

"Okay, okay, dude. You beat me," he panted. Nate, having not even broken a sweat, fluttered to a landing beside him and folded his wings behind his back. Smiling at his opponent, he was content to leave when the other spoke up again. "Wait, dude. Hey, you're pretty good. We could use a guy like you in Jaws Theta Chi."

One of the other monsters from the crowd spoke up. "Nah, he's one of those Gamma Roar Roar guys!"

"No way! Jaws Theta Chi is way better!" another yelled.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen. I have a solution that will be better than any of those." The crowd parted to reveal a new monster. His fur, though sleek, was a light ocean blue and he had two large horns that curled in the back. He marched up to Nate and extended his hand. "Jacob Worthington, president of Roar Omega Roar. What's your name, big guy?"

"Nate Flint," the other responded, shaking the hand that was offered.

"Uh-huh. Well, I think you'll fit right at home with those wings of yours. In fact, I-"

A screech interrupted them. Every monster turned their heads toward the sound of beating wings, followed by the crash of thirty legs on the ground. The dean raised her head and scanned the crowd with a barely contained rage.

"Would someone like to inform me what's going on? Where is my daughter? I _know_ she is here," Hardscrabble called out. Everyone began to talk amongst themselves worriedly as they confirmed their neighbors hadn't seen her either.

Meanwhile, Arabella and Abby were on the steps of an empty house waiting for Nate. When Hardscrabble arrived, they shot up and started backing away.

"Oh no, it's Mummy," Arabella whined. "I'm in trouble!"

"_I'm_ in trouble!" Abby snapped. "If she catches us together, I'm dead!"

Suddenly, the door of the house they thought was empty opened up. A few hands and tentacles shot out to clamp over Abby's mouth and pull her inside. Before Arabella knew it, her stepsister had vanished into the house. "Abby?"

Inside the house was cold and dark. The hands and tentacles removed themselves from Abby so the girl could sputter and flail around. "What-What's going on? What are you doing?"

"Shh!" A candle lit up the dark room, illuminating a girl with glasses. She wore a fanned out black dress that came halfway down her tentacle legs. "You're Abigail Flint, right?"

"Huh? Yeah. Who's asking?"

Another voice joined in. The tentacle girl held it over so a finned girl could speak. "We heard about you and Hardscrabble. What's the deal?"

"Well, like I said before, I don't know. I've never seen her before." She glared at the two as best as she could in the dark. "Can I go now?"

The tentacle girl broke in again, scrutinizing the young centipede monstress. "Hang on! Any girl Hardscrabble would take two glances at must have some Top Scarer potential."

"We want you to join," the finned girl added.

"Join?"

Suddenly, all the candles in the room lit up. Abby could now see clearly the five gothic monstresses of Eta Hiss Hiss crowding around her. HSS had a reputation for being the toughest, scariest sorority on campus, but some of the members looked quite eager to see her.

"Me?" Abby willed herself not to blush. Her mother, Dean Hardscrabble, had been a part of this very sorority—and they were asking _her_ to join?

"Yeah." A tall monstress with horns moved to the front to peer at her. "You look tough for a freshman, and smart too. And those legs!" She bent down to inspect Abby's centipede half, the girl shyly tucking them in. "You sure you aren't related to the dean?"

"Maybe distantly," Abby replied faintly.

"Maybe you'll be our good luck charm this year!" the smallest said, grinning up at Abby with her sharp teeth.

"We've...had sort of a streak of bad luck lately," the finned girl explained. "We usually win the Scare Games at least once every couple years, but lately? It's just been the RORs and the JOXs."

"Yes, we believe you could help us win. Our reputation is hanging by a thread," the tentacled girl added.

"Well, okay," Abby agreed, her face flushed. "I don't know what I can do, but I'll do what I can."

"Good. I'm Lily."

"Phoebe," the finned girl introduced.

"Amber," said the horned girl.

"Sophie!" the littlest one exclaimed.

The last one was the biggest of all the girls, even passing Abby by a few inches. She had a patch of spiky hair that matched her spiked bracelets. "Lexi," she mumbled quietly, avoiding Abby's eyes.

"Well, as you already know I'm Abigail. But you can just call me Abby, everyone does. Pleasure to meet you all."

_Brrring! Brrring!_

Startled, Abby retrieved her cellphone from her jacket pocket. As she flipped it open, the girls gathered around her in interest.

"Hello?"

"ABBY!" Said monstress held the phone a few inches away from her ear in order to stop her stepsister from making her deaf. "WHERE ARE YOU? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay, calm down! And stop yelling." Holding the phone to her ear once again, she glared suspiciously at the HSS sisters and started to move into another room. They didn't follow her, but they were very interested in how her legs clicked across the stone.

"Hey, what's going on? How are things with your mom?" Abby continued as she moved from room to room, having no idea where she'd end up.

"Oh yeah, she was fine. We're getting dinner together...it's always so awkward. It's hard to make friends when everyone knows your mum can fail them out of college. Ugh."

"Wait, what? Aren't you making friends at Fear Tech?"

"...I don't know, maybe a couple. I'd much rather hang out here with you, though. You and your friends."

"Well, I don't know how that's going to work out since the only friend I have is Trash Bits."

Arabella giggled. "Trash Bits, ha ha! That's funny. I wonder what garbage tastes like."

"It's absolutely terrible for you, probably better you've never had it." Abby stopped once she came across a room with a red curtain. Half-listening to Arabella ramble about garbage and her newfound pizza obsession, she ducked under the curtain and into the hall of alumni.

Notable alumni lined the walls, each fearsome women in their own right. Abby skittered down the hall, observing the oil paintings and trying to guess what special skill each had. That one probably used her impressive fangs, that one looked like it could drop on a child from above.

At the end of the hall laid an empty area, where the Scare Games trophy would be stored if HSS had won the previous year. Two portraits flanked the display, Abigail Hardscrabble on the left.

She looked younger, probably in the prime of her scaring career when the painting was commissioned. She was in a familiar position, though-chin up, back straight, hands behind her back. A condescending look in her eyes.

"...Abby? Abby?" Arabella's voice floated through the speaker of her phone, shaking Abby from her trance. "Uh—yes."

"Hey, you alright? You kinda zoned out on me there."

"Yes, I-I'm fine. I was just...looking at something."

Suddenly, a beeping noise rung in her ear. "Oops. Hold on, Bella, I have another call." _Click_. "Hello?"

It was her mother, Bonnie. "Abby? Hope I'm not bothering you, baby."

"No, no." Abby turned away from the painting. "Just relaxing in my room."

"Ah. Where's your brother? He's not answering my calls."

That was strange. Nate hardly ever missed a chance to talk to his mom. What had happened with ROR? "I don't know. Maybe taking a nap or showering."

"Showering? Your brother?"

They both laughed. "So, how was your first day of class, sweetheart?" Bonnie continued.

"Fine. A bit boring."

"How are the dorms? Do you have everything you need? I can pick something up for you if you need it."

"I'm fine, Mama. Really. I'm having lots of fun here."

"Well...okay. But let me know if you need me, alright?"

"Yes, Mama. I will."

"Okay, baby. Well, I won't keep you. Take care of yourself. Love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

Bonnie set her phone on the table with a sigh and glanced around her apartment. She had raised two children in this place. It always seemed bustling when her twins were there, but now with them gone it seemed so lifeless and empty. Bonnie almost didn't know what to do with herself.

All she could do was sit and worry.

* * *

A/N: introducing hss! like it was a surprise that abby would join hss, lmao. and i'd like to thank badgerwolfuk for inspiring me to get off my ass and finish this up. thanks for the long reviews, dude! really appreciate it

next up, rising action! the conflict is introduced! stay tuned...


	5. Abby's Initiation

_It was a quiet Saturday in the apartment. Nate had been sent to his room for playing soccer inside, so it was only a seven year-old Abby who sat in front of the TV, mesmerized. Why she was so interested in the news was beyond her mother._

_Abby tilted her head at the screen. "Mama, who is that?"_

_Bonnie glanced over, only for her blood to freeze at the sight that greeted her. She couldn't even answer her daughter's question, as her heart stuck in her throat._

_"—Doctor Hardscrabble recieved an award earlier this week for her work in—"_

_"She looks like me and Nate," Abby said, staring at the stony-faced figure on the screen. "Mama, is she our other mama?"_

_Bonnie swallowed her fear. It was no use lying to her; she would find out eventually anyway. "Yes, sweetheart. That's Mommy."_

_"That's Mommy?" Abby paused. "Well, where is she?"_

_"I don't know, sweetheart. I haven't seen her for a very long time." It was the truth. Bonnie hadn't seen her since she revealed that she was pregnant. She wasn't even there for the twins' hatching._

_"Is she hiding?"_

_"Yes. Mommy is hiding. But she doesn't want to be found, do you understand? Mommy doesn't want to be found, so don't look for her." _

_Abby seemed to understand this, but she turned back to the TV with a longing look. Bonnie finished up dinner and silently set a bowl of macaroni and slime next to Abby._

_"Mama, does she love me?" the young monstress asked quietly._

_Bonnie hesitated for only a fraction of a second. "Yes, baby. Mommy loves you very much. In fact, she thinks you are going to be the best scarer ever."_

_"The best scarer ever?!" Abby repeated excitedly._

_"The best scarer ever!" Bonnie ruffled her daughter's eyestalks. "But you have to work very hard, just like your Mommy and I. Promise?"_

_"Promise! I'll work really hard!"_

Abby blinked awake, lying in the bed of her dorm room. Boxes laid all around her; she would soon be moving into the HSS house, but she had to be initiated first. She rose to her feet, peering into the sunlight of the day that awaited her.

* * *

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Abby murmured to herself as she walked Monsters University's enormous campus. Her eyes scanned the ground and the sky, but could only spot students and the occasional professor or office worker. Suddenly, a soft screeching sound echoed through the air—only audible to those who were listening for it.

Dean Hardscrabble flew through the air and landed gracefully on the bell tower.

"Found you," Abby whispered.

But before she could do anything else, she was again ambushed by five enthusiastic goth girls. They dragged her into a nearby bush, hands and tentacles clasped over her mouth.

When they freed her, she huffed. "You know, I can just come to you."

"You're not allowed in the house until you're initiated," Lily pointed out. "Besides, this is more fun."

"You'll be able to get in the house after this test," Phoebe told her. "The long-standing HSS initiation...you must make a professor cry."

"But not just _any_ crybaby teach," Amber butt in with a grin, "Dr. Van der Slime."

Dr. Van der Slime was the chair of Fear Standards. Might as well have asked her to scare Dean Hardscrabble herself. But Abby was cool and collected. "He has a seminar tonight. Easy."

"We'll see," Phoebe replied. "And remember, tears of laughter don't count."

"Of course not," Abby scoffed. "Who do you take me for?"

"A HSSter, if you're good enough."

"Believe me, I am."

* * *

Later in class, Professor Knight handed back their quizzes from earlier in the week. Abby was, naturally, more than shocked to see a 0 on her paper. In fact, she was quite outraged. All the answers were right, so why did she recieve a 0?

She took a deep breath and channeled her rage into her cold attitude. She glanced over to Nate's paper and somehow wasn't surprised to see a C—but he had been graded fairly. In fact, his correct answers mirrored her own. She would have at least gotten points for that. But Professor Knight hadn't marked any incorrect answers, he simply scrawled a 0 at the top of the page.

After an excruciatingly long class, Abby made her way to the front where Professor Knight was erasing the blackboard. "Excuse me, Professor Knight?"

"Yes?" he said gruffly, turning to face her with a frown.

"I'm sure this is just a mistake, but I don't understand why you marked a zero on my quiz. Did I not give the correct answers?"

"Oh yeah, you gave the correct answers," Knight grumbled, setting down the eraser and packing up his things. "But you cheated."

"Cheated—?!" Abby's eyes flew open in anger, but she managed to rein her emotions in. "I assure you, Professor Knight, that I did not cheat. You can retest me in a setting with no other students—"

"Nope. I don't do retests. You get a zero for this quiz. And if I catch you cheating again, you're out of here, missy." Knight glared at her. "Are we clear?"

Abby mirrored his glare. "Crystal," she snarled.

* * *

"Cheating?!" Arabella yelled, nearly blowing out the speaker of Abby's phone. "Well, that's—why did he—wait, did you actually cheat?"

Abby growled. "No! I didn't cheat! I don't even know why he thinks I was. Maybe because I got all the correct answers."

"Maybe. But, you know, you can go to the dean about that."

"Arabella."

"Huh? What? ...Oh. Oh, yeah."

"Yes. Who's higher than the dean?"

"Well—I'm not sure. The university president is the only one with authority over the deans, but I'm not sure how much control Dr. Gross has over her. She kind of does her own thing."

"I'll speak to Dr. Gross, then. She's my only chance. I am certain he will 'catch' me cheating again, and then I will be out for good."

"Well, good luck! I have to go to class now. Talk to you later!"

Abby hung up her phone, taking a deep breath. She looked around, but she hadn't seen her brother outside of class since that night with JOX. Just last week they would go nearly everywhere together, or he would at least drop by every once in a while to chat. She felt truly alone without him by her side for the first time in their lives. Glancing at her phone, she snarled at herself. _Snap out of it, Abby. You don't need him._ _You're a big girl, and you can see Dr. Gross on your own._

So see the university president she did.

She strode right up to her office and into the waiting room. The receptionist gave her a kind smile. "Hello. Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but it's important that I speak with her."

"She's with Dean Hardscrabble right now, but you can see her when they're done."

Ice rushed through her veins. "No, I think I have to see them now."

And with the receptionist's protests, she rushed into the inner office, where Hardscrabble and Dr. Gross sat and talked. When they heard Abby, they each sprung to their feet. "What's the meaning of this?" Hardscrabble exclaimed.

"Dr. Gross, please, hear me out. I wasn't cheating. I don't know why Professor Knight says I am!"

"Settle down, child," Dr. Gross sighed, gesturing for Abby to take a seat. Hardscrabble narrowed her eyes as Abby sat in the chair next to her. "You say Professor Knight is falsely accusing you of cheating?"

"Yes. I offered to retake the quiz with no one else around but he said he didn't give retakes. I don't even know why he is accusing me of—I've never done such a thing! And if he accuses me again, I might be expelled!" Abby hurriedly explained.

"I see." Dr. Gross sat in her chair, mulling over the situation. "Normally, the dean of your college would handle such a problem. However," she glanced at Hardscrabble, "I can see why you would come to me. Unfortunately, I don't have evidence other than the word of either of you, so your professor wins out here. Have you tried talking to him?"

"Yes! He is convinced that I'm cheating. I'm not. I've never been." But how to prove it? How would Abby prove that she was a smart student with a natural talent that deserved to be in MU's legendary scaring program?

"The Scare Games," she gasped.

"Excuse me?" Hardscrabble snapped.

"The Scare Games! If I win the Scare Games, that means I'm one of the best scarers on campus. So obviously I didn't cheat, and I deserve to be given a fair chance."

Dr. Gross nodded. "Abigail? Any objections?"

Hardscrabble's frown slowly morphed into a smile. "Very well. If she wins the Scare Games I will let her complete my program. But if she loses, she will be expelled from the university for cheating."

A harsh punishment. If she had plagarism on her record, it would make it had to even go to Scream Community College. But Abby was confident in her ability. "Deal."

Hardscrabble grinned harshly at her. "Signups are in January. Don't forget."

"I won't." Abby stood and left, a proud step in her feet. As Hardscrabble turned to leave as well, Dr. Gross spoke up.

"I'd be proud of her if she was _my_ daughter, Abigail."

* * *

_Channel your inner Abigail, Abby._

The rest of HSS had arrived 15 minutes into the seminar, watching their newest recruit from the rafters. They were hidden to everyone else, but Abby could distinguish their forms in the darkness. She had a natural gift for seeing in the dark, which is something her mother Bonnie passed down to her.

Throughout the lecture, she had adopted Abigail's posture of looking like everyone was beneath her. She pretended not to listen to what Dr. Van der Slime was saying, often rolling her eyes or playing on her phone. Finally, 20 minutes in, she raised her hand. Van der Slime called on her.

"I'm sorry, I was just wondering: are we ever going to get into scaring, or are you going to spend the entire two hours talking about yourself?" she asked as politely as possible.

Van der Slime looked surprised, but not hurt enough yet. "Yes, well. I was just about to get into my paper—"

"Ah, yes. _The Psychological Effects Monsters Have on Humans_. I read it before this obviously pointless seminar and hoped dearly that this lecture would not reflect it. Clearly, I was wrong. I must ask, were you attempting to be hypocritical and off-topic, or does that just come to you naturally when you write?"

The professor was clearly agitated now. "What part of it was-"

"Oh, please, you can't obviously be so daft as to not have read Maulsalot's _Theory of the Human Mind_? No, perhaps that's a pointless question: you obviously haven't. You see, in his paper, he refutes almost all of the stereotypical monster viewpoints you have in your paper, and backs them up with scientific evidence. I'm not sure what about it is so puzzling to a scaring professor in the world's highest ranked scaring program, but I can see that Dean Hardscrabble's standards have significantly lowered in her old age. Now, if you don't have anything of interest to say, I must be off. I am a very busy monstress and I do not have time for braindead incompetence."

As she scuttled off, she could faintly hear the sound of Van der Slime sniffling quietly. The rest of the sorority met her at the entrance, each one gaping at her in amazement.

"Well? How did I do?"

"How soon can you move in?" Phoebe demanded.

* * *

Abby set the last box in her room with a huff. She glanced around her newest living quarters. Since she was the newest member, she had to share the room with the second-newest-the little spider girl, Sophie. She had never had to share a room before, not even with her brother, but she was confident she could adapt. Besides, Sophie seemed like a nice enough girl, if a bit scatterbrained.

"It's going to be great having you here!" Sophie squealed, bouncing on her web. Her half of the room was covered in cobwebs, and there wasn't a book without some sort of web residue on it. "We're going the win the Scare Games for sure, with you on our team!"

"We have to," Abby murmured quietly, too low for Sophie to hear. She started to unpack the rest of her books when she heard a faint tap on her window. She was about to ignore it, but another came. And another.

Irritated, she stalked to the window with a curse on her tongue. Looking out, she saw none other than her half-sister on the lawn with a slingshot and a few pebbles. Arabella waved franctically to her as soon as she saw Abby appear in the window.

Sighing, the centipede girl opened the window and began to crawl down the roof and the gothic walls to reach the lawn. As she approached Arabella, the latter giggled and embraced her. "Abby! Abby! You got in!"

"Yes, yes," Abby grumbled, feeling more than a bit uncomfortable at the contact. "I've passed my intiation and am now a full-fledged HSSter."

"A HSSter! Ha ha! So funny!" Then Arabella gasped. "Oh my gosh, Abby! You're going to need a new outfit! An outfit befitting that of a tough-as-nails HSS girl! Oh, _please_ let me make it, Abby! I already have an idea of what to do!"

Abby touched her blood red scarf. Arabella had knitted that for her, too. Scaring wasn't her forte, but Arabella was a master with a needle and thread. She sew most of her own clothes and had a true love for designing rivalling Abby's love for scaring. "I would be honored to wear one of your masterpieces."

Arabella giggled in a high pitch. "Oh, Abby, you flatter me! Let's see, you haven't gained any weight since your last fitting, have you?" Ignoring Abby's protests, she whipped out a measuring tape and began to wrap it around Abby's waist and bust. "Ooh, the girls have gotten a bit bigger!" she tittered, referring to Abby's chest. The HSS girl's dark face flushed brightly.

"Yes, yes, a nice, well-made leather, something to endure the Scare Games," Arabella began to mumble, inspecting Abby's form as if an outfit was already forming in her mind. "Breathable, and yet sturdy. Spikes? No, no spikes, they would draw too much attention. I want to enhance her features. Long sleeves. An embroidered insignia. Something simple, but powerful."

"Don't go too crazy," Abby reminded her. "I'm not the president. I'm the fresh meat."

"Maybe for now." Arabella winked.

* * *

Her first night in the HSS house fell fast. Soon enough, Sophie was dozed off in her web after spinning a blanket around herself. Abby had more trouble going to sleep. Recalling a trick she learned from her mother, she curled up on herself and began to count her legs. Fifteen pairs, thirty legs in all. She had grown most of her legs already as an adult, but she was still hoping to grow another segment.

She stared at her shell for a moment. It was always gleamingly clean, and she took good care to make sure she looked her absolute best. She had to figure out how to clean her shell by herself, of course. Her mother and brother were snakes.

_"Abby!" Bonnie snapped to the little girl strapped in a two-seater stroller. The girl was making quite a fuss, hissing and struggling in her prison. "I will let you play when you calm down."_

_Her brother, of course, already got to play. He was busy jumping off of ledges and flapping his wings, although they didn't seem to help him any. Soon enough, they both tired; Nate returned to his mother, and Abby resigned herself to a restrained fate._

_"There we go," Bonnie purred, releasing Abby from the straps. She glanced down at Nate when he tapped her scales. "You tuckered out already, buddy?" she murmured, bending down to pick him up and holding him on her hip._

_The sound of centipede legs tapping made Bonnie turn. "Now, don't go too far, sweet—"_

_She stopped immediately when she came face to face with burning amber eyes. Sometimes she felt like Abigail Hardscrabble could stare through her entire being to see all her fears and insecurities. Calming herself, she coolly steadied her gaze and put up her walls._

_"So, I see you have gone against my wishes," Abigail began, her voice colder than ice. Bonnie instinctively held a hand over Nate and her tail around Abby, who was clinging to her side. "I merely hope you realize the consequences of your selfish and foolish actions."_

_"The only selfish and foolish action I ever did was trusting you," Bonnie replied with a quiet fury. "My children are the best decision I've made."_

_Abby looked at the stranger. The lady was very tall, like Mama, and had a centipede tail. A centipede tail! She looked at her own and gasped, a smile growing on her face. This lady was like her! She wasn't freaky after all!_

_Abigail regarded her past lover coldly. "You? Raising two children by yourself with a job like yours? Well, I wish you the best of luck." With a sadistic smile, she promptly turned and skittered off. Abby was about to go after her, ask her a few questions—but she felt her mother clutch her hand tightly._

_"Come on, Abigail. We're leaving," Bonnie muttered._

_"Mama, there's a frog in your throat."_


	6. The Scare Final

Weeks passed. The Scare Games weren't until January, so Abby had an entire semester to prepare. Not that she needed much preparation. Her mother had taught her extremely well, and she was far ahead of anyone else in her class. Soon enough she had earned the admiration of quite a few lackluster students and had more requests for tutoring than she could count.

Despite this, she was still failing all of her quizzes and exams. Knight couldn't pin her for cheating yet, thanks to her conversation with Dr. Gross, but her grade suffered harshly. She tried not to let it bother her. Once she won the Scare Games, she would be rewarded with the grade she rightly deserved.

Nate rarely came to class anymore, much less talked to her. He was sporting a ROR sweater the last time she saw him, a stuffy (and, according to Arabella, messily-knit) red and gold monstrosity. He barely had the room to fully unfold his wings.

As for Abby, she had slowly but surely come to know her sorority sisters. The first one she became familiar with was her roommate, Sophie. Sophie was a bit of troublemaker, as Abby discovered one morning when she woke up on the ceiling wrapped up in an enormous web. Sophie giggled for a good ten minutes before Abby finally freed her claws to cut herself down. She was brushing webbing from her legs all day long.

Amber was the hothead. She was nearly always working out, toning her muscles into intimidating weapons. No one in the sorority crossed her, and for good reason. Amber would pick a fight with anyone and everyone, even her closest friends. A punch would be her way of saying hello. She often mocked Abby for her thin frame.

Lily was the bookworm. Abby admired her passion for knowledge, but Lily didn't seem to have much interest in practicality. Lily knew, but couldn't do. She was also one of the smaller members, often pushed around by Amber or Phoebe, so Abby understood her desire for isolation.

Phoebe was the president. She had a naturally dominant personality, and didn't like the fact that Abby clearly did not respect her leadership yet. She intimidated the fresh meat, threatening her and daring her to defy the group. Abby avoided her when she could because they often butted heads. Phoebe was a senior, but Abby felt as if she was nothing more than an egotistical freshman.

Lexi was quiet and very shy. Despite her hulking appearance, she often skittered around even her sorority sisters and definitely would not be in a room alone with Abby. The centipede monstress hadn't gotten the chance to know her yet because of this, but the other members seemed to have no problem with her behavior. "It's just her," they said.

So Abby spent most of the time in the library, alone with her books and her thoughts. She often thought of her mother and the factory. She often thought of her brother and sister. She always thought about Dean Hardscrabble, in some back corner of her mind. Curled in a blanket, looking out the windows to the pouring rain, she imagined what Hardscrabble might have been like as a mother if she hadn't rejected her. Would she be proud of her? Would she be critical of her scaring, to the point where there was no pleasing her?

She allowed herself to dwell on these thoughts only for a short time.

Months came and passed, and soon enough December came, and with it came the final exam for Scaring 101. As Abby suspected, Dean Hardscrabble appeared to judge who would continue in the program and who would not. She sat perfectly still in her seat, observing the students performing before her.

"Abigail Flint?" Professor Knight called.

She took a deep breath through her snout, calming the tempest in her stomach. Standing, she approached the simulator stage, her legs clacking along the floor. Before she could even reach the center of the stage, she heard a rush of wings. Dean Hardscrabble landed right in front of her, blocking her way to the simulator.

Abby glanced at her coolly.

"I'm a twelve year old boy in Alaska afraid of bears. Which scare do you use?" Hardscrabble began without even explaining herself. Her amber eyes pierced through Abby's silver ones.

Abby clasped her hands together. She knew the answer immediately, of course. "A particularly powerful Alpha Roar."

"Demonstrate."

The Alpha Roar was one of the hardest scares to learn, and no scare for a beginner in Scaring 101. It was especially hard for Abby, who had been raised by a snake and tended to have a bit of a hiss in even her biggest roars. Even the slightest hiss would ruin the scare in this scenario, as the child would never believe in a hissing bear.

Hardscrabble really wanted her to fail, didn't she?

Abby didn't see much point in protesting the clearly unfair disadvantage, so she steadied herself. Closing her eyes, she briefly recalled her roar training with none other than top Scarer, James P. Sullivan. Or Uncle Sulley, as she knew him by.

_"It's no use!" a ten year old cried, scuffing the floor with her legs. "No matter what I do, I still hiss!" Fuming, she planted herself on a step and glared at the ground with her cheeks puffed out. Sulley let her stew for a moment before gently sitting down on the step with her._

_"Hey. You wanna know what my trick is?"_

_"What?" Abby snapped._

_"There's a bear inside of me." Sulley smiled at her surprised look. "Yep, it's true. He's in my heart. Whenever I need to roar, I just let that bear out."_

_"I don't have a bear," Abby replied sadly._

_"Nope. You have something even better. Know what that is?"_

_"What?"_

_"A dragon."_

_"A dragon?!"_

_"Yep. Your mom had a dragon, and you have a dragon, too. A big, powerful dragon with a roar that can shake buildings. It's sleeping inside your heart somewhere. You just have to wake it up."_

Abby focused herself. In her heart laid a dragon with a powerful roar. If she could only tap into its power, if she could only tap into _herself_, she could pull this off. After all, she was the daughter of a legend.

She took a deep breath and gave her best roar.

She could barely hear herself, and couldn't even remember what the roar sounded like. All she focused on was the position of her fangs, the rise of her lungs, and keeping her tongue in check. She roared until her lungs dried out, coughing and gasping for air at the end.

The dean observed her daughter, bent over, hacking and gulping for air, but her face remained as stony as ever. When Abby had gotten some semblance of air back into her chest, Abigail smiled cockily.

"I didn't know bears could hiss," was all she said before turning to leave.

Abby could only stare as she was left alone.

* * *

The next days left the centipede girl inconsolable. She holed herself up in the attic of the sorority house, refusing to go to class or even let anyone see her. She spent long hours pacing back and forth, her legs constantly scratching against the rough wood. Sometimes she cried, in the late hours of the night when her sisters were asleep. She cried silently, alone, and never enough to smear her makeup. The rest of the time she spent numb.

One day, a knock came at her door. This wasn't terribly uncommon, but what did surprise her was the voice that came floating beneath the door. "Abby? It's me."

"Mama." Abby instinctively reached out for the doorknob, but only barely held herself back. There was a moment of silence before Bonnie spoke again. "Please, Abby, I just want to talk. Will you open the door?"

Even Abby couldn't disobey Bonnie forever. Her mother had a way of getting her to do exactly what she wanted. Tapping over to the door, she opened it a fraction of the way and darted over to the window as her mother opened it the rest of the way.

"Abby?" she said softly. "Will you tell me what's going on? Nate says something happened, and I got a call from your sisters..."

Abby remained silent.

Bonnie chuckled. "You know, you didn't even tell me you were in HSS. But it doesn't surprise me as much as it should. Somehow I always knew you would end up here. As much as it pains me to say, I think you are far more suited to HSS than EEK."

"Because I'm just like Mother?" Abby asked quietly.

A pause. "No. It's because you are quietly terrifying. You live in the shadows, you shroud yourself in mystery, and you are always watching from the sidelines. Your sisters are like this, too. The fact that your mother had all of these traits is beside the point."

"It doesn't matter anyway," Abby sighed. "I'm like her, but not enough like her."

"What do you mean?"

Abby was silent for a moment before telling her the story of her final exam. Bonnie seemed more than furious that the dean had tested her on such a difficult scare and nitpicked it, but Abby seemed resigned to her failure.

"I'm sorry, Mama. I failed you," she whispered softly, a tear threatening to spill from her eye. "I'll be lucky to be half the scarer Mother was."

"Abigail," Bonnie tutted, approaching her daughter and embracing her gently. "I never wanted you to become a scarer. Well, I should say—I only hoped you would find something of your own to strive for. If that's scaring, that's fine. But I didn't want you to feel like you had to live up to your mother, or even me. You have to make your own path in life, Abby, not take the road I lay out for you. And you could be a janitor and I'd still be proud of you."

"That's not true."

"It is. Abby, you have that choice. Let me ask you this: do you like scaring?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"If your mother wasn't a scaring legend—maybe she was just a trainer, like me. Would you still like scaring?"

"Yes, of course."

"Why?"

Abby tilted her head, looking into her mother's silver pools with her own. "It just comes so naturally to me, Mama," she confessed. "Like it was something I was always meant to do. I can't help but feel like I was destined for it."

"Then chase it, Abby. But not for me, and not for your mother. For yourself."

Abby frowned. "But...I failed. I couldn't do it."

Bonnie huffed. "Okay, for now let's ignore the fact that the exam was obviously biased and unfair and your mother probably made that hissing thing up just so she could nail you for something. You're going to fail in life sometimes, Abby, but it doesn't mean you should just give up. It means you have to pick yourself up and keep trying. Isn't that what you've been fighting for all this time? Scaring means so much to you. You're not going to let your mother take it away from you, are you?"

Abby narrowed her eyes. "No," she snapped.

"That's right. And you're not going to let her win, are you?"

"No!"

"Good girl." Bonnie rubbed her affectionately between the eyestalks. "Now, what's your plan?"

Abby thought for a moment, but then looked at her mother with a fiery determination. "The Scare Games."

* * *

Unfortunately, signups were nearly a month away. With the semester over, and her ejection from the scaring program finalized, Abby needed to temporarily choose another major. She sat and listened as her adviser listed several available majors that were _close_ to scaring—scream can design, door technology, perhaps engineering? None of those interested her, so she chose the easiest: scream can design. If nothing else, she could hit up the engineers at the factory for information.

She came back to the house each evening with a quiet expression. As her sisters all studied and had dinner, she barely said a word to them. It was only when she was picking at her grilled liver that Sophie finally spoke up.

"Why so glum, chum?" she tittered, mimicking Abby's desolate expression. "Still thinkin' about that final?"

"Yeah, we made a special accommodation for your mom to come," Amber told her with a full mouth. "Normally we don't allow non-HSS monsters inside the house and leave alive, but...that was pretty harsh of Hardscrabble, and I know _my_ mom makes me feel better when I'm down. Besides, your mom seems cool."

"No, it's not that." Abby put her fork down on her plate, still staring at it blankly. "It's just...I failed. I'm out of the scaring program."

"Like to inform us of something we _don't_ know?" Lily snipped.

"So I should be kicked out of HSS, too."

Silence. Five girls looked back and forth between themselves, exchanging glances. Finally, Phoebe leaned forward and put her hand on Abby's shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"The sisters and I have come to a decision. We're going to allow you to stay and finish up the year. If you're back in the scaring program by the end of the year, well...our doors will always be open for you."

Abby glanced up at Phoebe's one eye and gave a small, gracious smile. "Thank you."

"Yeah, plus, we think you could like, give us a really big advantage in the Games," Amber chortled. Phoebe and Lily sighed as Sophie giggled.

"How do you figure that?"

"There's just something special about you," Lily explained, adjusting her glasses. "And the way Hardscrabble goes after you...you must be really tough. If that isn't the mark of a true HSS girl, I don't know what is."

* * *

Eta Hiss Hiss was one of the last sororities to complete their registration-they had a tradition of being fashionably late for increased intimidation appeal. Of course, Slugma Slugma Kappa handed theirs in the minute registration opened, and Python Nu Kappa followed shortly after with giggles.

Phoebe strode up to the booth with the sorority trailing behind her. They were all supposed to carry an air of threat and menace, which was simple for Abby but less so for her meeker sister, Lexi. She studied the taller girl until their eyes met, and she tried to give her a reassuring nod. While unsure of how well it would be received, Lexi did appear to relax slightly.

"We're signing up," Phoebe snapped, slapping their papers down on the table. The Greek Council president sighed, flipped through their paperwork, and then slid a piece of paper towards them. "Sign these."

Each one of the sisters signed, Abby being last. Once she was finished, there was more noise coming from the students than before. It seemed the rally was about to begin. Abby followed her sisters to a place in the crowd were she could clearly see the stage set up in the middle of Frat Row.

And her mother on it.

Abby's silver eyes followed her closely as she approached the microphone, calling everyone to silence. Abigail didn't seem to notice as she went on with her introduction speech to the Scare Games, until she came to her stinger line:

"Good luck to you all—although some of you may need it more than others." And then her gaze shot straight towards Abby. An infuriating smirk played on her lips, making Abby fume with a burning hot rage. Her lips twitched with a retort in her throat, but she kept it down. She could be the bigger monstress.

It was only then that she noticed all of her sisters staring at her. Bewildered, she glanced at each one. "W-What?"

"Nothing!" They all attempted to look in opposite directions.

Sighing, Abby looked towards her mother again. The dean was still smirking at her, her head tilted up ever so slightly to look down upon her.

Abby grit her teeth and stomped her foreleg.

"I'm ready for anything you throw at me...Mother."


	7. Toxicity Challenge

The following days were quiet. Abby kept to herself, as did most of her sorority sisters. Her blood sister had disappeared, probably buried deep in fabric, and her brother was constantly with his new brothers.

This left Abby with her new group of friends.

They all agreed to start training for the Scare Games. However, the problem was no one could figure out how to do that. Phoebe, of course, wanted to take over training—but Abby thought her ideas were dull and meaningless. She suggested a new training regimen, one that specialized in everyone's strong suits rather than everyone working on general skills.

"Absolutely not!" Phoebe argued. "I'm the president, and I've been in the scaring program for three years, and we're doing what _I_ say!"

"Even if it will put us at a disadvantage?" Abby snapped. "I know what I'm doing better than you. You haven't led HSS to victory in all your years here. Give me a chance to prove I'm the best."

"I am _not_ going to let some puny freshman order me around!" Amber snarled.

"I dunno, guys, maybe we should give her a chance," Sophie spoke up.

The girls' voices soon blended into a cacophony of arguing. Abby and Phoebe were at each others throats, but Amber and Lily were shouting in order for their viewpoints to be heard. Lexi grimaced uncomfortably at the noise, and Sophie bounced around trying to diffuse the tension.

Finally, Abby gave her best impression of her snake mother attempting to rein in her trainees. "**QUIET!**" she roared, silencing the group. Lily, Phoebe, and Amber glared at her and she answered their glares with a fierce one of her own.

"Do what you want," she snarled, "but I won't waste my time with this useless garbage."

With that, she stormed away.

* * *

"No, no, that's not right, either. Should I go with this? I'm not sure if it looks any better than the first. Abby's jacket has to be just right…"

A tearing noise echoed through the open room as Arabella ripped out another one of her sketches. Her desk was covered in similar sketches, some marked with black or red and filled with notes and scribbles. A monster dress form stood in the center of the room, layers of black leather draped over it.

A knock came at the door. Arabella was so engrossed in her work that she didn't hear it, and the door opened by itself. Clicking noises were heard as the monster entered the room, bearing a tray of tea and pastries.

"Ah, I was wondering why I hadn't seen you," a light British voice chuckled. "Another project? Looks like a big one."

Arabella glanced at her mother, nervous that she might figure something out. Of course, there was nothing incriminating about Arabella working on clothing—she did that all the time.

"Uh, yes. I'm designing a jacket, you see. But, um, I'm still planning it." Arabella stood, making sure to cover up her sketches, and joined Abigail at her tea table. Abigail poured her the tea as Arabella picked out a pastry to eat. "Thank you, Mummy."

"Anything for my darling daughter. I know you tend skip meals when you get engrossed in a project like this, and I am just worried about you. Make sure you keep hydrated and well fed, even when I'm not here," her mother instructed.

"Yes, Mummy, I will."

"So, Arabella, how is school? Are your classes good?" Leaning in with a teasing smile, she whispered: "Do I have to have a _talk_ with your professors?"

The younger tried to laugh, avoiding Abigail's gaze. "No, Mummy. My classes are good."

"That's good to hear. You know if you ever need help, your father and I are here to help. I know how difficult it can be for a first year student. I want you to know that we would do anything for you."

"Thank you, Mummy." Arabella tried not to feel guilty. Her mother was so kind and caring to her. It was something she had been given from birth, but it was all her step-sister had ever wanted. Abby had to fight for Abigail's love, but Arabella had earned it just by being born "right". If only they could have traded places.

"Are you alright, dear?" Abigail asked gently. "You're zoning out. I hope you don't do that in class."

"Never, Mummy. Of course." If only.

* * *

The chilly winter air blew through Abby's coat, fluttering her long red scarf in the breeze. She sat upon one of the HSS house's tallest spires, looking up into the starry night sky.

A noise behind her made her spin in a flash. To her surprise, Lexi was coming out of the window to join her. The larger girl gasped as Abby saw her and froze, clearly not sure what to do next.

Abby took pity on her. With a flat look, she gestured to the space next to her. She watched in mild amusement as Lexi lumbered out the window and across the roof to sit next to her. They both watched the stars in silence, until Abby finally broke it.

"What's on your mind, big girl?"

Lexi was quiet for a moment. "Um, the Scare Games." Abby couldn't remember what Lexi's voice was like…in fact, she had never remembered her speaking. But Lexi had a deep, low voice, almost like a man's. No wonder she was so shy.

"What about them?"

"…I think you were right. About the training."

Abby glanced at her for a moment, inspecting her. Lexi appeared to be truthful. "Thanks."

"But…what if we fail? What if we get knocked out before the first event?"

The centipede girl fell silent for a moment. "We won't."

"How do you-?"

"We're Eta Hiss Hiss, the oldest sorority on campus. We're a gang of mean girls with tough looks and even tougher grit. Besides, we'll be competing against Oozma Kappa. If we can't beat them, none of us even deserve to be scarers."

Lexi looked slightly more relieved at her this. "So…it'll all work out?"

"For now. But once the competition gets tough, the tough need a better training regimen." Abby huffed in frustration. "You know, you would think I know a thing or two about scarer training. My mother is a scarer trainer! It's what she gets _paid_ to do all day!"

Lexi smiled. "Phoebe is a HSS girl. But she'll come around."

"You think?"

"Yep. But Amber isn't going to like it."

"Mm, muscle girl. I think I can handle her. I already have a training plan in mind for her."

"I guess I can't know what it is?"

"Sorry, top secret." Abby threw her a teasing smirk. "Now as your future leader, I order you to get some sleep. It's the first part of _your_ training plan."

"Yes, ma'am." Lexi saluted, and the two girls burst into laughter.

* * *

"Are you _sure_ this is where they want us to meet?" Sophie squeaked as the HSS girls made their way towards an abandoned parking lot. An abandoned parking lot that…seemed to now be an obstacle course? An obstacle course that looked like a playground?

A large crowd was gathered around the beginning of the course, around a platform that the Greek Council presidents stood upon. A sign behind them read "Toxicity Challenge" painted in red. As the chants from the crowd grew louder and clearer, Abby scowled at the din.

"I'm sure," she growled. Her scowl grew even more pronounced as the screech of her mother's wings echoed through the air. Abigail landed on the platform, in the darkness, and looked upon the crowd with condescension. Abby sneered at her, pointed teeth bared.

"Welcome to the Scare Games!" one of the presidents announced. "Let's give up for our teams in this year's games! First up—Jaws Theta Chi!"

The JOX boys roared and body-slammed into each other, which would probably cause a concussion if they had any brains.

"Python Nu Kappa!"

As per tradition, the giggly girls of the sorority blew kisses and waved.

"Slugma Slugma Kappa!"

The muscle-built girls all showed off their athletic prowess, some by flexing and some by doing acrobatics.

"Oozma, uh…Kappa."

The underdogs of the games smiled awkwardly and one of them waved. The crowd noticeably went quieter.

"Roar Omega Roar!"

The boys of the top fraternity looked smug. Notably, Nate was among them. Dressed in a red and gold sweater, he was smirking along with the rest of his brothers.

"And finally, Eta Hiss Hiss!"

Of course, they were always ready to look scary. Putting on their regular expressions, they all frowned and scowled at the audience, drawing applause. Abby had on her best sneer.

The vice president took over. "Tonight is the terrifying, heart-pounding Toxicity Challenge! This challenge is not for the faint of heart, kids. Each team must complete this obstacle course. The last one to end is eliminated from the Games!"

"It may look like a playground, but you'll be doing anything but having fun," the president cut in. She walked over to a lever and flipped it down. Suddenly, spikes emerged all over the playground equipment.

"Here's the starting line. The gates of MU mark the finish line."

"—ABBY!"

Abby was listening intently to the Greek Council leaders when her concentration was broken by a cry. Turning, she saw Arabella rushing towards her.

"Arabella. What are you doing here?" Abby asked as her sister caught her breath. Her eyes lit up as Arabella held up a black jacket.

Abby took it in her claws. It was beautifully made. The collar sported spikes from the back, similar to their mother's undershirt. On the lapel, Arabella had hand-stitched the HSS emblem. Abby turned it over to see a long centipede stitched along the spine with wings jutting from its sides.

"Arabella...it's...it's gorgeous," Abby murmured in wonder.

"Put it on!" she urged, already tugging on Abby's old jacket. Abby undressed, but she was hesitant to unravel her scarf. Arabella took it off of her, gasping.

"Geez, Abby, what did you _do_ to this thing? Ugh, and the knitting is terrible. I'll fix this up for you. But I don't want to see you wearing it with that jacket! I didn't design it that way!"

"Uh, okay." Abby shrugged the jacket on, buttoning it up.

By then, most of her teammates had noticed her new outfit. "Whoa, Abby, that's so cool!" "Nice jacket." "Hey you, did you make this?"

Arabella giggled. "Yes, I did."

"Do you take commissions? I could use a fresh breath of air, ya know," Amber laughed.

"Oh! You don't have to pay me. I'll make it for free!"

Arabella smiled as the other girls crowded her, all talking at once. She waved away their suggestions. "Don't worry! I'll get everything settled after the event. Good luck you guys!" And with that, she trotted away.

"Teams to the starting line!"

Abby wiped the smile off and put her best game face on. "Alright, everybody. Let's do this."

The other girls nodded solemnly, and they all lined up. "Stick together!" Phoebe yelled at them, and everyone nodded. That, at least, Abby agreed with.

_"Go!"_

The teams raced through the starting line. Despite having nearly fifteen times as many legs, Abby took a strong early lead in her team. Her legs seemed to blur as she gracefully but quickly stepped through the toxic spikes.

"How are you so fast?" Sophie cried, having trouble keeping up herself. Abby reached down and picked her up before settling the spider girl down on her shoulders. "Centipedes are one of the fastest insects on the planet," she laughed.

Phoebe and Amber exchanged glances.

The first obstacle was a tire course. Roar Omega Roar sped through them, Nate following them in the air. Oozma Kappa had a tougher time, each trying to avoid the meticulously placed spikes.

The Eta Hiss Hiss team had mixed results. While Abby and Phoebe were able to complete it quickly, Lexi and Amber had a harder time with their larger, less graceful bodies. Phoebe and Abby looked at each other only briefly before they left to help their teammates.

Then they came upon an enormous playground structure. Slugma Slugma Kappa leapt through effortlessly, and Python Nu Kappan soon followed. Jaws Theti Chi was too busy punching their way through the structure to notice the girls passing them by.

"Quickly!" Abby shouted, and with Sophie on her shoulder, she maneuvered through the equipment using her many legs as stabilizers. Phoebe and Lily soon followed, along with Amber and Lexi lugging their way through.

Finally, the last obstacle between them and the finish line was a large gap in the pavement. Abby stopped the rest of the team and glanced down. With her enhanced eyesight (thanks to her snake mother), she could see the glints of toxic spikes at the bottom of the ravine.

Glancing to the side, she observed how Nate carried the rest of his team over the gap one-by-one, starting with the president. No one on HSS had wings, so they would have to find another way.

"Sophie, can you make a web over?" Phoebe suggested.

"Are you nuts? My webs would never hold you big lugs!" Sophie yelled, jumping down from Abby's shoulder.

What to do? They were at a loss, and time was running out. Abby glanced around for inspiration, and finally she spotted it. A swing set.

"_Higher, Mama! Higher!"_

_Their mother stood behind them on the swings, pushing each one of her children one at a time. Laughing, she pushed Nate a little higher. "Don't get too high, you might fly away!"_

"_Fly away?"_

_Abby watched as Nate pushed himself higher, higher, as high as he could possibly go. When he reached the peak of his arc, he let go of the swings and jumped out. Extending his wings, he flapped them as hard as his little body could. Unfortunately, it only meant he descended slowly to a soft landing a ways away from the swing set__._

"_Nate!" Bonnie cried, rushing over to him. This left her daughter swinging to a stop by herself as she checked over her son for injuries. "Oh, don't scare me like that! You could have gotten hurt!"_

"_But I didn't." Nate grinned._

"The swings," she whispered.

"What?"

Instead of answering her president, Abby ran over to the swings. Stopping far from the swings, she got a running jump and leapt onto the swing with her legs. She swung forward, watching the finish line waver in the distance. Yanking on the chains, she pulled herself as far back as she could go and swung forward again. This time, when she reached her peak, she leapt forward.

Sailing over the gap, she extended her legs and came to a screeching stop on the other side.

Her teammates gasped. Abby spun around, motioning for them to join her. "Come on! This way!"

"Are you crazy?!" Amber screeched. "I could never make that!"

"Why not? I did."

"Okay, new blood has lost it," Lily sighed. "Time to kill her."

"I think it might work," Lexi mumbled.

"Let's give it a try!" Sophie giggled. And with that, she took a running leap towards the swing and jumped off. Phoebe, Lily, and Amber gasped. However, Sophie landed safely in Abby's arms.

Setting Sophie down, she held out her hands to the rest of the team. "Come on! We're running out of time!"

The rest of them all exchanged nervous glances. Until, that is, Lexi narrowed her eyes. "I'm going," she murmured fiercely.

Before the rest of them could say anything, Lexi broke into a run towards the swings. Abby egged her on, holding out her hands. Lexi leapt onto the swing with one foot and sprung from the top of her arc just as Sophie did. But, unlike Sophie, she had a larger mass and not enough force.

Abby rushed forward to catch Lexi's arm before she fell into the pit. The latter looked down with wide eyes and looked pleadingly back to her sorority sister. "Abby! Help!"

"Don't worry," Abby spat through gritted fangs, a fierce look in her eyes. "I've got you. I'm stronger than I look." And with a mighty heave, she managed to pull Lexi's body over the side and away from the danger. Abby collapsed backwards from the effort, but soon jumped right back onto her feet.

"Alright, now the rest of you!"

Amber shrugged. "Alright…if Lexi can do it, I can." She jumped across the gap, followed by Lily and finally Phoebe. The sisters then hustled through the finish line. In 4th place, they beat Jaws Theti Chi and Oozma Kappa.

"Wow Abby, that was amazing!" Sophie squealed. "We won because of you!"

"We didn't win. We didn't even place," Abby reminded her.

"But we're still in the Games," Phoebe spoke up, walking over to put her hand on Abby's shoulder. "That's enough. Nice work, freshman."

A cry of her name made Abby turn. Arabella came running towards her, just as fast as Abby raced in the competition. Her legs clicked along the ground with a smooth gait, unlike Abby's clunky and unorganized one.

"Abby! That was great!" Arabella squealed, hugging her tight.

"We didn't win. We only got 4th."

"But you're going onto the next round! I'm sure, with a little practice, you and your sisters will be dominating in no time!" Arabella put up a fist, her smirk mirroring Abby's.

"We're going back to the house for snacks," Lily told them.

"—And to take a nap!" Amber snapped.

"—So we'll see you back there, Abby."

As the girls left, Phoebe took one last look at the two sisters. Smirking, she nodded to Arabella. "And you can bring your friend, too."


	8. Avoid the Dean

The University Quad was a bustling place, full of students hanging out between classes (and sometimes even during them). There were skateboarders, picnickers, and plenty of groups. But something seemed off about it today.

Perhaps it was the enormous empty space surrounding a group of six goth girls. Everyone that would normally occupy that space were pressed against the edges of the quad or simply hightailed it out of there as soon as they stormed in.

The newest member of the group, Abby, sat on one edge of the oval with the current president, Phoebe, directly opposite her. Abby coolly met Phoebe's piercing stare.

"We're at an impasse," she stated, just to break the air.

"Why should I let a freshie train us?" Phoebe snapped.

"I've studied all of the past Scare Games, I know what to expect. You saw that in the last challenge. And I don't consider it training...more like, honing your skills to the specific challenges." Many of the group seemed pleased with that phrasing. "Give me a chance. What have you got to lose?"

"The trophy?" Amber suggested.

"And that's different from last year, how?" Abby replied. Amber's eyes flashed, but Phoebe held her back before she could tear the freshman in two.

Phoebe studied Abby for a long time. Finally, she took the whistle from around her neck and dropped it into Abby's outstretched claws. "We better see results," she warned. "Or I'm sending you crying to Mommy."

Abby narrowed her eyes and scowled.

"Scary steps!" she shouted, blowing the whistle.

The members of HSS all got to their feet and started towards the School of Scaring, but Amber gave her a look before following her sisters. Abby ignored her and observed as they ran to the steps and began to run up.

"Listen up, HSSters," she lectured, climbing the railing with her legs. "The next event is Avoid the Parent. If even one of us gets caught, we're all out. So we have to work together as a team."

"Does that mean listening to you now?" Lily drawled.

"God, I hope not," Amber snarled.

"It _means_," Abby hissed, "that we need to be of one mind. Not going off and doing whatever because you think you're cool. Well, you're not cool. We all have to be team players, here. No lone wolves."

"We get it," Phoebe sighed.

"Oh. Right." Abby cleared her throat, then reached into her leather jacket to pull out the letter they had recieved that morning. The sisters of her sorority stopped running to gather around her. "Alright, listen up. _Be quiet, be quick, scaring student beware: parents seem easy when the Dean's in her lair._"

The young centipede monstress closed the letter with a whimper. "Oh, I don't have a good feeling about this one."

* * *

"Welcome to the Avoid the Parent challenge! Your task: to retrieve your team's flag...in the Dean's office!"

"I _so_ don't have a good feeling about this!" Abby fretted.

"Hey!" Phoebe smacked her in the arm to shake her out of her panic. Abby quickly came back to herself, putting on a look of determination. "This is your chance to show us you have what it takes."

Abby nodded, and bent down to join her sisters in a starting position. "It had to be the Dean," she grumbled to herself. As the Greek Council leaders counted down, she glanced around for her sister. She could use a little of Arabella's encouragement right now.

But to her surprise, she couldn't find her among the crowd. By the time it had sunk in, the countdown had finished and the challenge had began. Abby couldn't help but look back into the crowd as she and her team pushed into the School of Scaring. She still couldn't find her even as Amber knocked her into running straight.

"Focus, Abby!"

"Right." The six of them started through the hallways. Scaring professors were lined up to catch any intruders and kick them out, but compared to Dean Hardscrabble, they were easy. HSS quickly passed them.

"Do we have a plan? I mean, we can't just barge in through the front door, she'll see us!" Lily pointed out.

"Abby?" Phoebe prompted.

Abby scanned the area for anything they could use to get into her office. Before she could set her mind on an idea, she heard rattling from the ceiling. "Hey!"

HSS glanced up. Arabella's sunset skin peeked through the grate in the ventiliation shaft. Pulling off the grate, she motioned "come here" and crawled off.

"No way," Amber said flatly.

"Yes," Abby corrected. "Sophie, you're with me. The rest of you, don't get caught."

Sophie leapt onto Abby's shoulder and the centipede girl used her claws and legs to climb up the wall and into the shaft. Phoebe nodded at Amber, who growled, and Lily, who sighed.

Sophie crawled ahead of Abby as the two made their way through the ducts. "Arabella?" Abby whispered, but no answer came.

"I guess she must have beat it," Sophie whispered. "Besides, isn't that cheating?"

"Maybe," Abby murmured. "But I don't care. Do you?"

"Nah. HSSters are famous for breaking rules!"

"Yeah. I think her office is up this way. Take a left."

True to her word, they came upon an opening in the shaft that lead right into Dean Hardscrabble's office. The grate had already been removed, so it was just a matter of retrieving the flag from the award shelf behind the dean. The elder Abigail was sitting at the her desk, filling out paperwork.

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal the athletic EEK girls. Apparently, they thought Hardscrabble's office would be empty. They shrieked and began to make their escape, but the dean was faster. She grabbed each one of the girls by their collars, three per hand, and flew up into the skylight. With a great heave, she threw the girls out and onto a bouncy house with the a banner depicting the word "LOSERS" decorating it.

Abby and Sophie both gasped at the sight, exchanging frightened looks.

"We're counting on you," Abby hastily whispered, pushing Sophie out the opening. Sophie struggled for only a minute, but silenced as soon as Dean Hardscrabble returned to her chair. Finally, she shot a string of web up to the ceiling and swung over to the flags.

When she landed on the glass case, it made a small thump. Abby could see the dean's attention alerted, and immediately withdrew a slingshot from her jacket pocket.

"Oh, no you don't," she growled as she loaded a pebble into the slingshot and fired it at the glass window of her door. This drew Abigail's attention towards the door, and she stood up to inspect it.

Both Sophie and Abby sighed in relief. Abby kissed her slingshot, thanking herself for all those years of pranking professional scarers at Monsters Inc, and tucked it neatly back into her jacket as Sophie returned with the flag. Abby grabbed Sophie like a basketball and quickly crawled backwards.

The two found their companions hiding behind potted plants and made their way outside to cheers and applause from the crowd. They had gotten second this time, right behind Roar Omega Roar. Slugma Slugma Kappa, of course, was eliminated.

"Not bad, freshie," Phoebe praised, putting a hand on her shoulder. Abby simply smirked and held her head up.

Unbeknownst to her, Dean Hardscrabble was also watching their celebration from the window of her office. Her face was blank, unreadable, but she stared at Abby relentlessly.

"Guys!" Arabella ran up to them, much like she did after the last event. But this time, she had black bags in her claws. "That was awesome! Great job! Here are your new clothes. Sorry it took so long!" She handed each one to its owner, and the girls took out lovingly hand stitched black clothes from the bags. They each declared their love for their own outfit, thanking Arabella for her hard work.

"Thanks for the help," Abby mentioned.

"What help?" Arabella turned her head, looking at Abby with a sly expression. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Abby's sharp teeth peeked from her grin. "Sure."

* * *

Dean Hardscrabble sat in the office of her home, body leant forward on the plush leather chair. One hand was on her temple, the other holding a photograph. She looked exhausted and miserable, as if she hadn't slept in days.

The picture flew to her lap as the door opened. In the doorway stood her daughter holding a tea tray. "Sorry for bothering you, Mummy," she said, inching in cautiously. "But I thought you could use a cup of tea."

"Oh. Thank you, Arabella, that's very sweet of you."

Having been granted permission, Arabella shut the door behind her and placed the tray on the desk. Abigail noticed her only take out one cup and stopped her before she could grab the teapot.

"Pour two. Sit and talk with me. We've barely spoken all week."

Smiling, Arabella did as she was told and took a seat in the plush red chair across from her mother. "What were you looking at?" she asked casually.

Abigail's soft smile disappeared. "Oh. Nothing. Just a...an application. Boring paperwork."

Arabella doubted that, but took a sip of her tea. "Okay. How are the Scare Games going so far?"

From her expression, the dean didn't want to talk about that either. "Very well. I'm disappointed that Slugma Slugma Kappa didn't make it far, but they have some serious competition this year."

"Yeah, HSS is really going for it," Arabella remarked. "They could be in the top two this year, but beating ROR will be a challenge."

"Yes." Abigail finally stopped avoiding her daughter's eyes and swept her own over her outfit. If there was anything to show off, it was Arabella's fashion sense. Her daughter was always dressed to the nines, much like Abigail herself. They were both somewhat ostentatious.

"Those bows are very cute," Abigail complimented, nodding to the ones attached to Arabella's horns. They were black on the base, but had silver swirls through them.

"Thank you. I decorated them myself."

"Very nice. Did you show your father?"

Arabella frowned. "Yes. He didn't like them. Said a horrifying monstress would never wear something so silly and girly."

"That's nonsense," Abigail snapped, scowling darkly. "A girl can wear what she wants in this day and age. Scariness doesn't come from clothing, it comes from within. Never mind what your father said, wear whatever you like. You don't need to please anyone."

Arabella smiled gratefully at her mother. "Thank you, Mummy." And, just for kicks, she added: "Taking that into consideration, any chance I can get you into a dress?"

Abigail glowered at her. "Not one."

The younger giggled. "Ah, well I suppose I should get to bed now. Good night, Mummy."

"Good night, darling. Thank you for the tea."

After the door closed yet again, Abigail pulled the photograph from her lap. Her amber eyes swept over it once more before closing.

And she set the picture of Abby to the side.


	9. Oozma Kappa

Abby sat on her bed, pouting like a child. Her roommate was busy smacking herself with black powder to achieve the perfect horrifying look.

"I just don't understand why I have to go," Abby said, her voice almost a whine. "Can't you guys just say I was sick?"

"Phoebe wants us all to be there!" Sophie reminded her.

Another voice came from the doorway, surprising both of them. "And besides, I thought you were a wild girl," Phoebe interjected, sticking her head through the doorway. "Can't handle a party?"

"I can," Abby argued, immediately on the defensive. "I love parties. Why can't we go a JOX party? Those are fun."

"It'll be just like a JOX party...only more expensive."

"Why don't you want to go?" Sophie asked in genuine curiosity.

Abby made a frustrated noise in her throat and put her hands back on her cheeks. "I don't want to see ROR's stupid, smug faces."

"She doesn't want to see her brother," Lily gathered, popping her head in the doorway above Phoebe's and sliding her glasses up her face.

Abby groaned, throwing her hands up in the air, "Why is everyone in my room?"

"Is that true?" Phoebe asked, raising her only eyebrow. Although her hair covered half of her head, Abby knew there wasn't a second eye under there. "What's the matter with you and your brother?"

"Nothing," the centipede girl snapped. "How did you guys even know I had a brother? Or that he was in ROR?"

"I know all the names of everyone on the competing teams, and Nathaniel shares your last name," Lily replied. "Knowledge is power. Also, you two look alike."

"We're twins."

"So your brother's a ROR, huh?" Phoebe teased smugly. "This should be the perfect opportunity for you two to catch up, then."

Abby stood up to protest, but was promptly restrained by Phoebe and Amber, who had seemingly come out of nowhere just to harass her. Amber took special joy in dragging Abby from her room and down the stairs.

"No, no, no, no, _no!_ _Aughhhhh!_" Abby screamed as she was dragged down the front lawn of the sorority house, all thirty legs flailing at once.

* * *

"I hate all of you!" Abby shouted over the pounding music. While her sisters gave a halfhearted attempt at dancing (by nodding their heads menacingly, a HSS tradition), Abby stood as still as a statue with her arms tightly crossed over her chest.

Her silver eyes darted all around the room, as if she was looking for something. Suddenly, she noticed one of the members of Oozma Kappa dancing dangerously close to her and making eye contact in a way that disgusted her. He was a small monster even for normal standards, and looked to be the consistency of a rubber ball.

"Don't even _think_ about it, half pint!"

Time to see if he bounced like one.

Pulling her foreleg back, she punted him into the air. He did, indeed, bounce off the second floor balcony and the ceiling, seemingly without injury, and ricocheted back to collide with the back of Abby's head.

As Abby tried to clear her vision and realign her eyestalks, she could hear her sisters laughing at her from behind. "Shut up, you worthless piles of trash!"

"Trash ain't worthless, it's delicious!" Amber cackled. "So, thanks Abby. You're delicious, too."

Abby got to her feet and gave Amber a look of disbelief as she nursed her bruising head wound. The Oozma Kappa boy, however, appeared to be just fine. But from the way Abby was looking at him, he wouldn't be for long. He scampered off in a few short seconds under her intense glare.

The rest of her sisters stopped laughing as the music cut out. An older boy walked on stage, and Abby recognized him as the monster who had approached her brother the night she met HSS. His name was Jeremy Worthington. Now, why did the name Worthington ring a bell...?

"Alright, everyone," he said. His voice oddly crackled, like he never finished puberty. "This year the RORs have invited every team that registered in the Games, no matter how far they got."

A round of cheers awarded him, and he basked in them for a minute.

"Alright, let's hear it for the EEKs!"

As Jeremy introduced all the teams, Abby counted the heads around him. There were a couple missing from the team, her brother included. In fact, she hadn't seen him during this entire party, which was odd considering how hyperactive her brother tended to be. She expected to at least see him fly around once or twice.

"HSS!"

The rest of her sisters gave their intimidating gestures, but Abby already had a deep frown on her face. Something felt wrong...

"And, finally, the underdogs of the Scare Games...Oozma Kappa!"

The boys of the newest fraternity looked surprised but pleased as the crowd began to cheer for them. But suddenly, a waterfall of sticky maple syrup fell over them and completely drenched all six boys. Abby stepped back in shock.

"Or should I say...chickens?" Jeremy snickered. He made a chicken noise, and suddenly Abby saw her brother descend from the rafters with buckets of feathers. He sprinkled them all over the Oozma Kappa team, laughing all the while.

The crowd, who had previously cheered, now began to laugh and jeer. Abby looked back to see even her own sisters give stifled giggles and smirks. Oozma Kappa looked absolutely depressing, like they had expected this to happen. No one was coming to their rescue, even after cheering for them moments before.

Abby suddenly felt a deep kinship with them. The underdogs that no one believed in.

"Hey!" she snarled, storming up to shield OK from the RORs. "Why don't you pick on someone your own speed?"

Jeremy stopped chortling to scowl at her. "Uh...what?"

The whole crowd stopped to turn on her, and even her sisters looked on incredulously.

"Yeah, you heard me. You're only picking on OK because you know they can't fight back. It's pathetic how you pick on someone who's obviously weaker than you just to stroke your own ego. I'd love to see you try this on someone like me."

"Is that a challenge?" Jeremy laughed.

Abby scowled. "Maybe. But we're already in a challenge, aren't we? Tell you what...if we beat you in the Scare Games, you have to apologize to Oozma Kappa. In front of _everyone_."

Jeremy strode over to her, the crowd parting like the tide to make room for him. He leaned in close to Abby's face, breathing his garbage breath right on her snout. "Fine. But when _you _lose, we'll prank your whole team in front of everyone."

"Fine," she snarled, scrunching her snout against the smell.

Jeremy turned his back to her. "Now get out of my house," he growled.

Scoffing, she turned to leave. "Let's go, you guys," she muttered to OK as she passed. They followed her like ducklings, shuffling out of the house. Once she was outside the doors, they opened once more to reveal Nate dropping to a landing behind her.

"What was that all about?" he demanded.

"What was _that_ all about?" she repeated, turning to face him. "What was _your_ thing all about? That was cruel, and you know it!"

"So what? They're _losers_," Nate snorted, gesturing to them. "Look at them! They're practically begging for it!"

Abby blinked in shock. "I don't know what Douchelord Supreme has been telling you, but Mama raised us to never to abuse our power to bully others."

"Mama? Mama _hated_ her recruits! She always told us how terrible they were!" Nate argued, standing higher on his tail to gain leverage.

"But she helped them! She made them into real scarers! She didn't sit around and mock them all day!" Abby shouted, stepping forward. "You know what? You know who you're acting like? _Hardscrabble!_"

Nate fell back at that, his amber eyes wide. Abby scoffed, whirling back around and leading the syrup-and-feathered boys away. "Come on. I'll take you guys home."

As she left Nate alone on the porch of the ROR house, one of the boys spoke up. "Um...thanks," he muttered softly.

Abby only hummed.

"No, really. You didn't have to do that."

"Yeah, I did."

* * *

"So this is where you live?" Abby pondered, looking over the two story house. It looked like the ideal home for a family, if she'd ever seen one. It was also kept neat and tidy, at least from the outside. Lights shone through the living room and upstairs, so there were other occupants in the house besides the team.

She went up to the porch with them and stood awkwardly, wondering if it was an appropriate time to leave. The boys still looked dismal, and with all their heads bowed, none of them reached for the door. Abby took matters into her own hands and rang the doorbell, hoping one of the other OK members would collect their feathered brothers.

Instead, the door opened to reveal a strikingly familiar face.

"Unbelievable," Abby grumbled.

"_Abby!_" Arabella squeezed her sister in a tight embrace. "Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," Abby coughed through the stranglehold.

"Oh, I'm spending time with Mrs. Carlton, of course! Hehe!"

"Who?"

"Boys!" A new face poked through the doorway. It appeared to be a short, squat monstress with curlers in her blonde hair. She wore a floral pattern dress and an expression on her face that suggested she had just lost a dearly beloved son. "What happened to you?"

"The RORs," Abby supplied helpfully. "They were the unfortunate victims of a cruel prank."

"Oh, no!" Arabella gasped. "How awful!"

"Don't worry. I put those jerks in their place." Abby's smirk reached the far corners of her cheeks, her teeth peeking through only slightly.

"Let's get you boys washed off," Mrs. Carlton fussed, herding her pack upstairs and to the bathroom. "And Arabella, be a dear and get your friend some hot cocoa for me."

"Yes, Mrs. Carlton," Arabella chimed cheerfully. She grabbed Abby's wrist, who looked ready to make a run for the hills. "Come on!"

"No, no, no, I really can't stay—"

"I insist!" Abby groaned as her sister dragged her through the house to the kitchen. Everything in the OK house looked like it came straight out of a grandmother's attic. The younger Hardscrabble girl decided to get some answers out of her sister.

"So...explain to me what you're really doing here."

"I told you," Arabella giggled, warming up some milk, "I'm hanging out with Mrs. Carlton. She's my friend, you see."

"I see. And, Hardscrabble..."

"—Doesn't know, of course. Ouf! Could you imagine that conversation? Oh, no, no, no." Arabella shook her head, adding the warm milk to the cocoa powder in two mugs and stirring. "Oh, I should make cups for the boys, too...Mr. Carlton!"

The door to the basement opened, and a squat monster about the size of Mrs. Carlton poked his head out. He had a finned mustache and thinning fins on his scalp. "Yes?"

"Would you like some hot cocoa as well?" Arabella asked politely.

"I sure would, thank you very much!" He was a jolly man. But when he looked at Abby, all that jolliness faded into sheer terror. Abby supposed it was the face she had on. Her resting bitch face was as legendary as her mother's...or so she liked to believe.

"Who's this lovely lady?" Mr. Carlton's voice tried to remain peppy, but the girl didn't miss the way he swallowed hard.

"Abigail," she sneered.

His brows shot up, and she was almost sure his fins flared out like her Mama's when she was surprised. "P-Pleasure to meet ya." Then he ducked back into the basement and shut the door hard.

Arabella gave her a look as Abby smirked. The younger caught her sister's eye and pouted. "What?"

The older one simply sighed and placed eight mugs of hot cocoa on a tray. Giving Abby her own, she took the tray into the living room and set it on the table just as the boys descended the staircase, all in pajamas and wrapped in towels and minus feathers. They all thanked Arabella as they took a mug and sat down.

"I made one for Mr. Carlton, as well," Arabella informed Mrs. Carlton as she came down the stairs as well. "Should I bring it to him?"

"You know, I wonder what Don is doing in that old basement," she sniffed. "It's unlike him not to greet the boys."

"Yes," Abby broke in, a grin on her face. "Why don't you bring old Don up here? I would sure _love_ to get to know him better."

"Be nice, Abby," Arabella sighed, leaving to retrieve him. Abby's grin faded as she left, and she suddenly felt all sorts of uncomfortable around the OK boys and a peppy mother hen.

"So," she started, just to make conversation, "I hear you're friends with Arabella."

"Of course! Who do you think taught her how to cross stitch?" Mrs. Carlton cheerfully replied. "And I hear you're a HSS girl?"

"Well, yes, but I think I'm going to finally get myself kicked out after this escapade."

_Ding dong!_

"Mrs. Carlton?" one of the boys spoke up, looking out the window. "The scary HSS girls are here!"

Surprised, Abby brushed her way to the front door and opened it, revealing her sisters. The newest recruit was at a loss for what to say. She had gotten her entire team involved in a stupid bet in an offer to protect some scaring failures.

"So...I guess you guys are pretty mad," Abby assumed.

"We _were_—" Amber snapped, obviously still quite irritated, but she was cut off by Phoebe's arm in front of her.

"_But_...that was pretty hardcore of you to stand up to the RORs," the president admitted. "Even if we'll all be humiliated if we lose."

"We _won't_," Abby stressed.

"Be humiliated?" Sophie piped up, a smile on her face.

"No! Lose! We can't lose." Abby grinned widely, puffing out her chest with pride. "Not when _I'm_ here."

"You'll just mess us up!" Amber laughed, pushing her. Abby laughed and pushed her back, and the two fell into a wrestling match on the floor.

"I...guess I should make more hot cocoa," Arabella noted from a space not two feet away, staring at the five girls in the doorway. Mr. Carlton was at her side, looking very uncomfortable.

"Arabella!" The girls cheered, even Amber, and rushed forward to hug her. Arabella laughed as she was covered in arms, tentacles, and spider legs. "Guys! It's good to see you too!"

"Alright, everybody, let's all sit down," Mrs. Carlton suggested gently. "I'll make some hot cocoa for you girls while you catch up." And with that, she left to bustle in the kitchen. Mr. Carlton hastily joined her.

The HSS girls sat down and recounted the party to Arabella. Abby smiled gently at Arabella's proud look as Phoebe told her how she stood up to the RORs. By the time she had reached the end, the Carltons had returned with hot cocoa for everyone.

"So, euh, Arabella," Don began. "How d'ya know Abigail here?"

"Oh! She's my sister!"

Abby was too shocked to slam her hand over her eyes, but mentally she was doing the same thing. Arabella's smile disappeared from her face moments afterward, and she clapped her hands other her mouth in shock. "O-Oh, I mean, that I think of her like a sister! That's all!"

"No," Abby disagreed quietly. She put her chocolate claws over Arabella's silver ones and looked into her eyes. "She's right. She's my sister. And she always will be."

The room started chattering, voices overlapping each other. "—knew it!" "It was obvious, right?" "The centipedes—!" "But why—?" "—Hardscrabble—"

"I'm illegitimate."

The room, filled with thirteen college students and two adults, went completely silent. Every single eye was trained directly on her. Abby took a deep breath through her snout, looking down into the swirls of her hot chocolate.

"Yes. The product of an affair between Dean Hardscrabble and my Mama," she looked at HSS, "who you've already met."

"Is that why she, um, Hardscrabble, I mean, she—"

Abby cut Lily off. "—Hates me? Yes. If word got out, her reputation would be ruined. You see, my Mama was only...oh, god. Ten, twenty...she must have been only twenty three, twenty four at the time. Just out of college."

"How did they meet?" an OK boy piped up.

"What happened?" Phoebe asked, her face softer than Abby had ever seen.

Abby sighed. "Oh, okay. You guys want to hear the story? Let's see...now, I only know what my Mama told me. But it's the gist of it. So here we go."

And Abby began to spin the tale of a young snake monstress and her true love. "My Mama was fresh out of college, and already working at Monsters, Incorporated as an assistant to one of the higher ups. One day, I think...Hardscrabble had come in for something. A meeting, it must have been, or something like that. Mama said she was in awe of her, like many others, I'm guessing. But the difference was that Hardscrabble noticed her, too."

A young assistant and a very prestigious and respected authority, caught in whirlwind of love.

"So then...things happened. Don't need to go into detail, do I? I suppose they kept that a secret for a while, until of course my Mama got pregnant with us. Then...Hardscrabble got angry. Left. Forever."

Yelling, screaming, a fight. Broken glass everywhere, and a young, scared, twenty four year old girl in her apartment sobbing alone. Her only company was the incubating children in her womb.

"You know what's awful, though? My Mama really, truly loved her. She never dated again after that. Always said it was because she was busy with us, but I think she never really got over her."

And there she was, the daughter the snake monstress hatched and raised, sitting there with her mother's name.

"Anyway, so my Mama raised us by herself. A long chunk of time passed in which Hardscrabble never talked to me, not once, and then...now we're here." Abby shrugged as she glanced around the room. "Questions?"

The dead silence in the room was broken only by Mrs. Carlton's loud sobbing. "Oh!" she cried, rushing over to embrace Abby. "How awful! Oh, I'll be your mother, dear!"

"That's really not necessary," Abby mumbled as she awkwardly pat a grieving mother monstress on the back. Arabella, meanwhile, could no longer hold back the tears in her eyes and wrapped her arms around Abby as well. "Oh, Abby, I had no idea!"

And, just for good measure, the rest of HSS embraced her, too. All crying. Even Amber.

"Aghhhh." Sadly, Abby liked all of these people at least a little bit, so she suffered their smothering with only a wriggle of her legs. "Hey, I'm okay. Sure it's sad, but...hey, I'm stickin' it to the ol' lady. That's why we can't lose."

"Yeah! We'll definitely help you, Abby!" Sophie squealed.

"Great." Gently pushing the crowd off of her, she brushed herself off. "Well, anyway, tragic backstory over. We can talk about something else now."

"How about the way you guys swung over that ledge in the first event?" one of the OK boys praised, answered by a chorus of agreeing hums and excited chirps from his brothers.

The HSS girls engaged in conversation immediately. "Well, it was all Abby's idea..."

As they talked, Arabella gently tugged on her arm. "Come on," she said softly, sensing that Abby wanted some peace. "Let's go get some more hot cocoa for you."

The two sisters retreated to the kitchen, where Arabella took her time preparing another cup of hot chocolate for her. Abby remained quiet, but stayed close to her sister as a source of comfort.

"Arabella?" Abby finally spoke, very softly.

"Yes?"

"What do you know about the Worthingtons?"

"What do I know about them? Hmm." Arabella reached up into the cabinet for the bag of marshmallows. "Well, they're a well-known scaring family."

"No, no. I know that. Did...did Hardscrabble have something to do with them? I can't...I remember reading something about..."

"Hah! Did Mummy have something to do with them?" Arabella chuckled. "Of course! Okay, story time, but from me this time. A long, long time ago, back when Mummy was in school, and dragons still roamed the planet, she was in a scaring class with this boy named John Worthington. Well, he was John Worthington the first, but not at the time, he was just John. Anyway! _He_ said that Mummy would never be a good scarer and that girls weren't as scary as boys. Well, obviously she didn't like that very much. So after she got suspended for fighting, she instituted the Scare Games. The entire _Scare Games_ is based on the Hardscrabble/Worthington rivalry! And you, my dear sister, have just made history repeat itself. Again."

Abby paused. "I wasn't even trying that time."

Before Arabella could respond, they both heard footsteps enter the kitchen.

"Whoops. Never was good at stealth." Abby was surprised to see Don standing there. The last they had met, he had been scared stiff of her. She hoped her backstory didn't make her seem soft. "Anyway. I came to tell ya, Abby...I saw ol' Hairdscrabble in ya from the first moment we met."

"It's _Hard_scrabble and—" Abby snapped, only to get an elbow in the gut. Without looking at her sister's frowning face, she cracked a strained smile. "Thank you for the compliment. But I didn't mean to startle you. And I'm afraid we might have gotten off on the wrong foot. So, if you don't mind, I'd like to try again. I'm Abby Flint. And you are...?"

Don smiled and pulled out his card. "Don Carlton. Scarer."

* * *

A/N: I felt like Don and Sherri would house OK for a long time after they graduated...like scaring failure grandparents.


	10. The New President

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Abby said. "Run this by me just one more time."

She found herself, yet again, in the Hall of Alumna, but this time she wasn't alone. Her sorority sisters joined her, all wearing black robes with hoods. Abby was the only one not dressed in a robe and the only one that apparently had no idea what was going on. They had all no less than dragged her here after boasting about an "announcement" of some sort. It looked just like when they tried to recruit her—it was at night and the lights were out, and only candles dimly lit the faces of her sisters.

"Your mother," Phoebe explained, holding a candle flame up the portrait of Dean Hardscrabble, "was a member of Eta Hiss Hiss."

Abby held up a claw in protest. "But—"

"But nothing, you're as legit as Arabella is!" Amber snarled, characteristically heated but uncharacteristically in Abby's favor. Abby glanced at her in surprise for a moment before turning back to the president.

"Okay, so?"

"_So_," Phoebe drawled, as if it were obvious, "you're a legacy, girl."

Abby pursed her lips. Legacies in sororities were members who have had family in the same sorority, especially if they were notable alumna such as her own. "I know," she said dryly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Abigail," the president sighed, beginning to circle around the young centipede girl with a candle in hand, "your mother, as much of a dick as she might be, was one of Eta Hiss Hiss' most notable members. Probably one of the most notable in the entire University. Your mother truly lived the name of a HSS girl by breaking social conventions of her time, excelling and surpassing in her studies, and finally earning the title of the "Living Legend" by breaking the All-Time Scare Record in a shorter time than any other scarer who ever lived."

Abby stared at her mother's portrait. The painted lady held her head high and her chest out, inflated with a sense of pride. Of course she should be proud. She had every right to be. She was the true definition of a scaring legend.

"I guess," the young Hardscrabble finally grumbled.

"So, clearly you come from a place of distinction. Of pride. And you've obviously inherited her legendary scaring skills. Therefore, the entire sorority has voted to elect you our new president."

Abby was still mulling over the part about her inheriting her mother's scaring skills that the last part didn't even register for a few moments. "Wait..._what?_"

"You're our new president!" Sophie tittered, using her free legs to pop off a confetti cannon. "Congratulations!"

"I mean—" Abby looked around helplessly. "What? Don't you have to run for presidency? And, like, not be a freshman?"

"You don't have to run, we already voted," Lily informed her. "Even Amber voted for you."

"Don't let us down, freshie!" Amber snapped. Then her scowl morphed into a smirk. "I mean, president."

"And you!" Abby spun towards Phoebe, who was observing the portrait of the Dean with her back to her. "You're totally okay with me replacing you?"

Phoebe didn't answer her immediately. "You know, your mother became president of this sorority in her sophomore year. But I think you've already proven yourself." With a snap of her fingers, Amber and Lexi pushed Abby to the end of the hall, below her mother's portrait. They laid a crown over her eyestalks and the rest of the sorority bowed to her.

"Time to see if you're your mother's daughter," Phoebe remarked before bowing with the rest of her sisters.

Abby glanced around at all the sisters, her friends, bowing before her and pledging to follow her every command. Then she turned, gazing up into her mother's prim, patronizing face.

When she turned to her sisters once more, the surprised look had faded into one of determination.

"Let's get one thing straight," Abby growled, folding her hands behind her back. "I won't simply live up to my mother's legend."

She paused for effect, as the rest of her sisters looked up in confusion.

"I'll surpass it."

And then she hissed harshly, a hiss of which her snake mother would be proud of, and raised her fist. The rest of her sisters followed suit, all throwing their fists in the air.

* * *

The rays of dusk poured through the huge windows of Arabella's room. Although her room was quite stark, with white walls and a pristine white marble floor, her things were anything but. Every color of fabric was scattered everywhere, along with her sketchbooks and colored pencils of every hue.

The occupant hummed as she danced around the room to her own beat, gathering up a few scattered pieces of fabric to better organize them. The rush to complete the HSS team's new outfits left her room a mess, and she needed to regroup before working on her next project.

Then the door opened. Arabella spun around with a smile on her face, only for it to melt immediately once she saw who stood in the doorway.

"Daddy," she stammered, swallowing hard. "W-What's up?"

Knight stepped into her room, shutting the door behind him. "Mind explaining this?" he growled, holding up a sheet of paper. Arabella recognized her transcript, along with her nearly failing scaring grade.

A cold fear crept into her heart, freezing her veins solid. She had a strong feeling that this would not end well. "H-How did you...? Where's Mummy?"

"Working late," he snapped. "And luckily, she doesn't know about this." As he advanced on her, Arabella stepped backwards until her back was against the wall. "How do you think she would react if she learned her only daughter was a scaring failure?"

Arabella's heart plummeted in her chest. As much as she loved her mother, there was no way the scaring legend would be happy that her daughter failed at her own study. "Not good."

"Exactly." Knight's dark eyes swept over Arabella's room. "Pathetic. The great Dean Hardscrabble's daughter, a scaring failure and spending her time...making arts and crafts!"

Arabella suddenly felt great shame for her art. Her father was right. How could she waste her time with this nonsense? She was Dean Hardscrabble and Professor Knight's daughter, a scaring legend in her own right, and she should act like one. Like Abby did.

If only she was more like Abby.

But she wasn't.

And she was helpless as Knight ripped through her fabric, tore through her dress forms and drawings, and destroyed her sewing machine. She could do nothing but watch the destruction in equal amounts of terror and shame. It was horrible, but it was what she deserved. She should have been a scarer.

By the time he was finished, Arabella could no longer watch. She was bent down on her knees, her hands covering her face. As much as she hated herself, she could not stand to look at her ruined work. Her father stood over her, his claws out. He was bigger, stronger, and more powerful than her, and he showed her that.

"From now on, you're going to be a scarer like your mother and I. And you'll get rid of this garbage," he told her, his voice calm but firm. Like he was just giving her a lecture. Like he hadn't just razed her room to nothing but irreparable pieces.

Arabella didn't respond. She still had her hands clasped over her eyes, hoping she would wake up from this horrible nightmare.

"_Arabella._"

"Yes, Daddy," she answered immediately.

"Good. Now, clean this up." Arabella uncovered her eyes just soon enough to watch him stomp out of her room, hands behind his back.

Her gaze was immediately drawn towards the wall, where a full-length mirror hung. She could not even bear to look at the wreckage of her once beautiful room. Stumbling over to the mirror, she simply stared at herself, at her orange cream scales that were so much like her father's. She looked just like him, and her mother always told her that. Her head was round like his, her horns were the same color, and her arms were just a little chubbier than most girls.

She absolutely hated herself.

She could not remember a time where she hated something as much as she hated herself right now. She could feel the venomous bile in her throat, the disgust twisting her stomach. This must have been what Abby felt when they met. Arabella finally understood.

She looked so much like her father. Her destructive, crushing father, who used his power over her to ruin her dreams. But he was right. She was letting her mother down, after all she had done for her.

Pulling back an arm, she slammed her fist into the mirror, shattering her reflection into a thousand pieces. Her hand screamed in agony as it was pierced with shards of glass, but she found that she could ignore it. Her anger was more important, more potent.

Through the broken mirror, she could still see the reflection of herself. She locked eyes with the monster she hated most, even if its image was scattered. Her hatred flared and spiked. She was sick of looking at herself and seeing his face.

In a fit of rage, Arabella reached up and clawed streaks down her face. Her dark red blood flowed from her marks as she dug her claws as deeply as she could go. Her goal was to mar herself so badly that no one would mistake her as his daughter ever again. All of her fury, her tears, and her pain flooded through the blood down her face.

Eventually, she could no longer ignore the searing pain and fell to the floor. Abby was right. Her father was right. Everyone who had ever met her was right.

She was so weak.

When her mother returned home an hour later, Arabella could not hear her scream or hold her unconscious daughter in her arms, pleading for her to wake up.

"Please, Arabella...no. Arabella..."

* * *

When Arabella awoke hours later, she thought she was in her room. The walls and ceiling were just as stark white as her own. But then she heard a beeping noise, and looked to her right to see medical equipment. She briefly wondered what medical equipment was doing in her room, but then it hit her.

This wasn't her room. It was the hospital. She could barely see through the bandages, and her face _really_ hurt.

"Arabella," her mother gasped, and the girl turned to see the dean on a chair by the window. Abigail rose, rushed over to her, and leaned down to capture her daughter's hand in hers. "Oh, Arabella. You're alright. Thank goodness, you're alright." Her normally succinct mother could hardly find the words to describe the relief she felt. "What happened? Oh, Arabella, who did this to you?"

Arabella didn't answer her, her eyes darting around as she mentally pieced together what had happened. Her father had destroyed her room, all of her things, and then she...she had hurt herself.

"Daddy," Arabella coughed weakly.

"Daddy's okay," Abigail informed her, in an attempt to soothe her. "He wasn't home. My dear, please tell me what happened."

So her father already had an alibi. She shut her eyes. Not for the first time, she wished she could tell her mother everything. But she knew that if she told her legendary scarer mother her deepest secrets, she could not take them back. Abigail would hate her. Arabella would rather live a lie than have her mother hate her, like she did with Abby. And she knew how well Abby was taking it.

"Robbers," she croaked. "They came in, and...they wanted to know where all the money and valuables were...I said I didn't know, and they..."

She let herself trail off, as if the memories were too harsh to recall. In a way, they were. Abigail embraced her, rubbing soothing circles on her back. "Oh, my brave little girl," she praised. "Don't worry, Mummy's going to get to the bottom of this. Okay? No one is going to hurt you anymore. I promise."

Arabella knew that was a lie.


	11. It's Not A Celebration Without You

Abby realized nine in the morning was a time most college students spent sleeping, but her sorority's lethargic, near comatose state was downright pathetic.

She gave her whistle a good blow, causing her sisters to jolt awake at the noise.

"Alright girls, listen up," she snapped, hands on her hips. "Our progress so far has brought us results, so I'm taking this to the next level. As your new president, I'm enacting a new training schedule that I am one hundred percent positive will keep us from crashing and burning in the Games. I'll be honing your individual skill sets and improving your weak points. That means, you do what I say, when I say it. We clear?"

The group all murmured their agreements tiredly, but Abby wasn't satisfied with their answer.

"I _said, _are we _clear?_"

"Yes, ma'am!" they chorused in a shout.

"Twenty laps around campus! Get _moving_!" And she ran at them, blowing her whistle. They scrambled to their feet and/or tentacles and scampered from her, only to have her chase them around for all twenty laps.

The first of her "specialized training" focused on Amber. The larger girl had been a thorn in her side since the day she joined, but now it was time to tame the bull. The two stood in a standoff on the front lawn, each glaring thunderously at each other.

Although their individual training had been supposedly private, the other sisters could not help but witness this particular event.

"It's clear that you're an aggressive monstress," Abby began. "And that's good. Aggression is passion, it fuels your scare. But an experienced scarer knows when to hone their aggression until just the right time." She gestured at Amber with her newly painted pitch black claws. "Come at me."

"You sure? It's gonna hurt," Amber teased, already cracking her knuckles.

Abby answered her with a cool smile. "Give me your best shot."

So she did. But when she charged Abby and swung her fist, she hit nothing but air. Abby was below her, smiling up. Amber kicked out in retaliation, but somehow Abby maneuvered her legs over and around her tentacles at lightning fast speeds. Frustrated, the older kept throwing punches only to be outsped by Abby's clicking legs.

Abby's constant dodging despite her large size and occasional tease only infuriated Amber. The angrier she grew, the harder she threw her punches. The harder she threw her punches, the more it wore her out. After a few minutes, Amber was huffing for breath and could hardly keep her hands into fists.

While she dodged a lazy hit, Abby took advantage of Amber's exhaustion and delivered a mean right hook directly to her jaw. The older girl slammed to the ground like a fallen tree.

"See? I kept cool and thought about my strategy before deciding the ultimate time to unleash my fury," Abby said, tapping over to her sister. She bent down and offered Amber a hand up.

"Let's go again," Amber panted with a smile on her face as she took Abby's hand.

Abby's training with Sophie did not go as well. In an attempt to make the playful girl more serious about scaring, she showed her a technique developed specifically for spider-type monsters. The idea was to cover the child in a spider web—studies show that humans were significantly alarmed by the sudden appearance of spider webbing. Sophie seemed open to the idea until Abby tested her with a plush doll.

Instead of spinning a web over the doll's face like the book instructed, Sophie instead wove the doll a sweater of webbing. Abby put a hand over her eyes as Sophie attempted to wrestle it onto the doll.

So she moved to Lexi. Abby noticed Lexi's problem on the first day she joined: the girl had very little confidence in herself.

"Don't worry, big girl. This is my forte," Abby informed her as they stood in the center of the quad, perched on the fountain's ledge. "If nothing else, I definitely have my mother's overinflated ego and a strong sense of entitlement. So I'm the perfect teacher, really."

"Yeah...I see that," Lexi murmured softly.

"Speak up!" Abby snapped sharply. "Enough of that muttering nonsense. If you have something to say, shout it out! Speak with pride." She handed her sister a megaphone. "That's why I want you to tell everyone out here how awesome you are. Go on!"

Lexi looked terrified as Abby handed her the device. Her hands shook as she found the switch and flipped it on. She looked over to her new president, who was eyeing her expectantly.

"Please don't make me do this," she whimpered.

"Come on! You'll do fine. What are you afraid of?" Abby demanded.

"Everyone will hate me..."

"And? What do they matter? Listen to me, Lexi, the only person in this world that matters is you." After poking the other in the chest, she pointed to the students in the quad. "Don't let them hold you back from being the best monster you can be. Don't let _anyone_ hold you back or tell you you're not worth anything! Don't even let yourself tell you that, because you _are_ worth something. Everyone is."

Lexi blinked in wonder as Abby calmed herself. Although the young centipede monstress could be cold, aggressive, and downright arrogant, she always spoke from her heart. Her pep talks were truly inspiring, and it was clear that they weren't empty words. She lived believing in those very same truths. It made her trustworthy. Perhaps that was why they had all warmed to her so quickly.

Lexi fumbled with the megaphone for a moment until finally lifting it slightly. "Um...hello," she said quietly, clearing her throat.

"Louder," Abby ordered.

"Hey!" she tried.

"Louder! Tell them you're awesome!"

"I'm awesome!"

"Good! Louder!"

"I'm awesome!" Lexi shouted. A few students had turned to stare at her at this point, but Lexi found that as long as Abby smiled at her, she didn't mind. "I'm _awesome!_"

"Yeah!"

"HSS rules!" Lexi laughed, putting up her fist. Abby bounced on her feet beside her, getting into her energy. "I love it!" the president shouted. "More!"

The two shouted and yelled about how awesome they were and how much HSS rocked for a good fifteen minutes. And when they finished, a few students clapped for them. A greater number of them gave odd and condescending looks, but Lexi and Abby just smiled at one another.

The next member to be trained was Lily. As usual, Abby found her in the HSS library, face buried in a book. Abby slammed the book shut in her face.

"I was reading that," Lily said surly.

"And now you're training with me. Let's go, weak link."

Abby turned to leave as Lily sputtered at the table. "I am not the weak link!" she protested, catching up to a smirking president. "It's definitely Sophie or Lexi, right?"

"Actually, they've both made significant progress. You, however, have only just begun." Leading her down to the workout room, she told Lily to do 20 pushups as a warmup. However, she was surprised to learn that Lily could not even do one.

"Come on, Lily, it's just a pushup!" Abby sighed as Lily struggled to lift herself up with her pitifully weak elbows. Once she shakily pushed herself up, she declared, "One!" and then promptly collapsed on the floor. Abby put a hand on her eyes.

After hours of physical workout, Abby finally sent a panting and sweaty Lily back to her room. "And eat some protein!" she called after the exhausted HSS girl.

As she was replacing the weights, she heard the door open. She turned around prepared to engage in some light teasing with Amber, but was surprised to see Phoebe standing there. "Oh, Phoebe. What's up?"

"So?" Phoebe asked.

"So...?" Abby repeated, not sure of what she was asking.

"So, what's my training?"

Abby pursed her lips. "What do you think your training is?" she replied.

Phoebe considered the question. "I don't know," she answered softly. "I'm confident, I know when to hone my aggression, I'm physically powerful and mentally capable, and I take scaring seriously. I do everything by the book, all my techniques are correct, I've gotten nothing but flying colors in my classes."

When Abby gave no indictation of telling her the answer, Phoebe huffed. "What, are you saying I'm _too_ perfect?"

"No."

"What is it, then? I follow the rules _too_ closely?"

Abby slowly nodded, much to Phoebe's shock. "That's exactly it. Good job," Abby praised, with a slight smirk. She enjoyed her power a little too much at times. "You follow the rules. You color inside the lines. You can recite a textbook word-for-word. That's all well and fine in school, but the Scare Games are for serious scaring competitors, ones who want to make it to the big time. I grew up watching experienced scarers, so take my advice. If you want to make it as a professional in the industry, you have to have something that no one does. You have to be unique. Each scarer has something that makes them different from any other. The techniques and skills are all well and good, but..."

"...But I need to make them my own," Phoebe finished for her.

Abby nodded. "Precisely. Take my mother, for example. She hit the monstriology jackpot with enormous dragon-like wings and a centipede body. She took advantage of both in her scaring techniques, which rocketed her to the top. The books served her well, but it was _how_ she incorporated them to suit her own needs that made her a legend. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Phoebe thought the idea of comparing herself to the famous Dean Hardscrabble was almost laughable. The only one who could think of doing that was her own daughter. Abby and her sister Arabella had been passed down the dean's centipede body, but they both lacked the wings that made up a number of her famous techniques. Phoebe wondered how Abby was planning to surpass her mother when her own monstriological makeup was only half of Dean Hardscrabble's.

Ah, well. If she asked, Abby would have replied with her usual biting, "I don't care about that!" She wasn't nearly as mysterious as she thought she was.

"Anyway, you don't need to worry about that right now," Abby added. "Nor is it something I can teach you. Just give it some thought. And get some rest, big day tomorrow."

As Abby tapped past her, Phoebe smiled gently. She knew she made the right decision to make her president.

* * *

The next competition came in due time. New technology was being implemented in the Games, and the 'Don't Scare the Teen' challenge was the trial run of a new computer program for the students. The teams were placed in a maze consisting of many small rooms. The sound of either a teen or a child would play, and if the competitor scared correctly, the door to the next room would be unlocked.

HSS had performed extremely well under Abby's training program, scoring first place. ROR came not far behind, followed by JOX and finally, PNK. There was a controversy that arose from JOX, and it was revealed that they had threatened a nerdy student to hack the system. It wasn't enough to beat HSS or ROR, but they were disqualified and PNK continued to the next round.

As the members of the goth sorority cheered amongst themselves, Abby glanced at the top fraternity. Jeremy was glaring daggers at her, but what surprised her was that Nate was mirroring his glare. She shook her head and hid her hurt by turning away.

Still, she couldn't help but feel that something was missing. Dean Hardscrabble was there, unfortunately, but she was unaccompanied by her daughter.

"Arabella!" Abby gasped. "Where's Arabella?"

"Maybe she's busy," Lily suggested.

"No way, Arabella always comes to cheer us on!" Sophie protested. "Did something happen?"

"I don't know," Abby murmured. "I'll call her now." As she held the phone to her ear, she prayed for Arabella to pick up. Her heart felt heavy, not knowing what had become of her sister. Finally, on the third ring, a soft voice answered her.

"Hello...?"

"Arabella!" Abby could feel the rest of HSS' curiosity as she talked. "Hey! Why didn't you come see us today? You missed it, we placed first this time!"

"Oh, really?" Arabella's voice sounded unusually quiet. "That's good."

"Yeah, where were you? We're all worried."

"Oh...I couldn't make it."

"Why? The Snow Dean is here..."

"I, uh..." Abby could hear Arabella's sigh in the speakers. "I hurt myself and I don't get out of the hospital until tomorrow at the latest, so..."

Abby's slit pupils shrunk to pinpricks and her silver eyes widened. Her heartbeat pounded through her veins, so loud that she almost couldn't hear Arabella calling for her, or the rest of her sisters quietly demanding to know what she said. She willed her voice to come back to her, but her throat was so dry. Swallowing her fear, she continued.

"Where are you?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm in Horror Heart...it's a little ways away from campus..."

"Okay. Stay there." And with that, she shut her cellphone. Her eyes flicked up from the ground to meet the rest of her sorority's anxious stares.

"I have to go," she whispered weakly, and suddenly took off in a run.

Her team immediately raced after her.

* * *

Arabella laid on the hospital bed, as she had done day after day. Her only company had been her mother, who came in whenever she could spare a free moment, and the doctors and nurses checking up on her. She could not quell the loneliness in her heart.

She glanced over to her bedside table. Along with clothes, her mother had also snuck in her knitting supplies for her. Although Arabella was not allowed near sharp objects (including knitting needles), Abigail likely thought it was a surefire way to cheer her up.

But Arabella just felt sick.

Her thoughts came to an abrupt end when six girls, drenched in sweat and panting for dear life, barged into her room. Although Arabella was overjoyed to see them, she was also in shock.

"Did you guys run all the way here? It's 20 miles!" she asked in astonishment.

"I'm sorry," Abby panted, wiping the drool from her mouth. "I just...I just had to see you." She took her hands off her knees and straightened up to get a good look at Arabella. Her sister laid in a hospital bed, her face almost completely bandaged, and looking tired and weak. Abby swallowed the lump in her throat and approached her. "Bella...what happened?"

Arabella looked away, her cheeks burning with shame. "Please, don't make me tell you...I'd have to lie, and I don't want to lie to you."

"Why can't you tell me?" Abby demanded. "Was it Hardscrabble?"

"No! It wasn't her!" Arabella cried. "Please, Abby, just let it go."

"I want to know who hurt you right now!" Abby snarled, baring her teeth as drool dripped from her fangs. Her black claws twitched into fists. "I'll kill them! I'll _slaughter them!_" A mix of cries filled the air, but one HSS girl surprisingly rushed forward.

"Abby!" Amber shouted, running over to Abby and grabbing her shoulder. "It's alright. Calm down," she soothed, massaging her lightly.

Abby held her contorted pose for a few moments before she finally began to melt into a calmer posture. Sighing as all the rage drained from her, she put her hand over Amber's to show her gratitude.

"It's alright if you don't want to tell me," Abby murmured softly to her sister, sitting down on her bed next to her. "Just know that I'll be here when you're ready."

Arabella smiled. "Thank you, Abby." She glanced at the sorority, who crowded around her bedframe. "And the rest of you came, too?"

"Of course," Lily huffed, adjusting her glasses. "We were worried about you."

"And we didn't have our cheerleader!" Sophie cried, stamping one of her tiny legs.

Arabella smiled again, this time sheepishly. "Well, I hear it didn't make much of a difference."

"Yeah, we got first place," Amber said, shrugging. "But we couldn't celebrate without you! That's why we ran all the way here. Also, Abby has us on this crazy training program. She would have made us run 20 miles anyway."

"Oh, really? Let me hear about it!" Arabella sat and listened to the rest of HSS complain about her sister's harsh and cruel techniques. She should have been happy that her friends came-and she was, but she still felt a hole in her heart. The emptiness just would not go away. A part of her was missing.

When the team left to give the sisters time alone, Abby didn't say anything at first. But Arabella could see the torment behind her eyes. The older one bit her lip. She felt guilty for hurting Abby, just as she felt guilty for worrying her mother. She placed her hand over Abby's comfortingly.

Abby glanced at her hand and slowly closed her claws around it. She could not bear to look at Arabella's face, to see her bandages covering what was surely a hideous wound. Abby felt as if she had failed. Arabella got hurt, and she could not protect her.

"You have to get better," Abby said, her voice shaking. "You have to get better so you can see us in the Games...you have to see me win. Okay? You have to get better."

"I will," Arabella answered quietly, pretending not to notice the tears slipping down her sister's face.

After they had said their goodbyes, Abby walked down the hall to meet her sisters. However, she stopped short when she heard a different clicking sound than her own. Her wide eyes flicked up from the floor to meet her mother's cool amber ones.

Her veins flooded with ice. She knew she had to leave, but she could not pull herself away from her mother's intense amber eyes. Her throat constricted; she couldn't breathe or say a word. Her mother was staring at her expectantly, but she could do nothing but stare back.

Finally, a call of her name pulled her from her trance. Her eyes quickly darted to the floor, unwilling to match gazes again.

"I'm leaving," she sputtered, then hurriedly passed Abigail. She didn't look back.

She didn't see her mother turn to watch her leave.


	12. The Story of Lady Centipede

Abigail took the week off to care for her wounded daughter, and to give her the opportunity to rest. She guided her daughter back to her room when they returned from the hospital, although Arabella seemed understandably hesitant to return.

Her large eyes widened as she saw her room returned to its original state. All of her fabrics and sewing materials had been replaced, cleaned, and neatly put back in their place. It was like no one had ever touched it.

Abigail's hand gingerly touched her shoulder. "Do you like it?" she asked softly. "I tried my best to make it the same as before, but you may need to move a few things around."

Arabella could not say she liked it. In fact, the hole in the bottom of her stomach only grew and gnawed on her insides. Tears of grief filled her eyes, which Abigail mistook for tears of joy.

"I love it, Mummy," Arabella croaked, looking up to her mother's face with a forced smile. "Thank you."

She embraced her. Abigail held her for as long as she needed. "Now, rest," she commanded, as Arabella pulled away. Her daughter nodded obediently and laid down on the bed. Nestling herself within the pristine white sheets, she quickly fell asleep.

Abigail busied herself with work until Arabella awoke hours later in the midst of a nightmare. The dean held her as she screamed and cried, but when questioned, she shook her head and refused to answer.

Arabella had been so quiet with her lately. The two had been so close that Arabella trusted her with almost everything. Now it felt like Arabella could not say anything to her at all.

Her behavior was strange, and what's more, her story didn't check out. Abigail checked the security cameras over and over again, but there was no footage of the burglars. But it was impossible for Arabella to trash her own room and harm herself...wasn't it? If it was, what would bring her to do such a horrible thing to herself? Abigail had made sure Arabella lived in luxury, that she was given anything she wished for, and was never unhappy. Arabella was such a sweet, kind girl. There was no explanation to why she would do this.

But if she didn't, then who did? No one else was at the house. Abigail herself had grilled and interrogated each of her maids, tutors, and assistants, and Arabella approved of them as well. What had caused this?

Perhaps she was overthinking. There was no reason Arabella would lie to her.

As she gave Arabella a soothing cup of tea, the girl pushed against her. "Let's sit at the table," she murmured, already getting up. "I'm not tired anymore."

Without protest, Abigail followed her. She sat down at the opposite end of the table, pouring herself a cup of tea as well.

"Mummy." Her daughter's eyes were blank and lifeless. "Tell me a story."

"A story?" It wasn't an odd request. Abigail often regaled her with stories, either from a book or from her own life.

"Yes. The story of how you met Ms. Flint."

The elder stopped, holding the teapot solidly in midair. She stared at Arabella, but her daughter showed no signs of fear or hesitation. In fact, she looked more resolute than Abigail had ever seen Arabella show.

Sighing, she finally set the teapot down. "It's not a happy one."

"I'm too old for happy stories, Mummy."

"You're never too old to be happy," Abigail murmured softly. Arabella pretended like she never hadn't heard.

A long silence stretched. When Arabella did not change the subject, Abigail knew she could not escape. "I don't even know where to begin," she said finally.

"I'll start. Once upon a time, there was a lonely monstress named Lady Centipede."

"I wasn't lonely," her mother argued.

"She was lonely," Arabella continued, "because she could not find a monster that met her extremely high standards. She keep looking and looking, but no one held her interest for long. She was beginning to think she would never find anyone who she could love."

Abigail's eyes softened with sorrow. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and continued the story. "Having never met a monster who could impress her, she married someone she...did not love. Together, they made a fearsome couple."

When her amber eyes opened once more, her gaze had returned to their cold expression. "They had a beautiful daughter together, who never once disobeyed her mother, and they all lived happily ever after. The end."

Arabella glared.

"Oh, alright, alright," her mother amended. "Soon after they married, Lady Centipede finally found a monstress who impressed her. She was terrifying, and so very, very beautiful. Lady Centipede had never felt anything like what she felt when she was with her. They loved each other." Abigail's eyes flickered with emotion, so much that she missed her daughter's sorrowful expression.

"But." Abigail forced herself back into her steel composure. "They knew it could never be. Still, they met each other in secret, hidden away from the world and its prying eyes. Although she cherished her time with her friend, Lady Centipede knew it could not last."

At this point, Abigail began to struggle with her words. Seeing her trouble, Arabella prompted her. "Then Miss Snake got pregnant."

"Yes," Abigail coughed. "Miss Snake...and I knew—_Lady Centipede_ knew that it was over. And she grieved. Grieved for her lost love, for the feelings that she could no longer feel. Despite her best efforts, a...a part of her was missing."

Arabella spoke up again when Abigail's red claws pressed against her forehead in a pained expression. "Miss Snake had her children anyway," she said, distracting her from her torment.

"Yes. Yes. Miss Snake had her children...twins. A boy and a girl."

_Click, clack, click, clack. Bonnie knew better than to leave the windows unlocked._

"What did Lady Centipede think of them?"

_A hand gripped the crib gate, a spiked shadow descended on the wall. A baby monstress opened her silver eyes._

"Lady Centipede did not want them."

_Her leathery finger pressed against her mouth in a 'shh' gesture. The baby seemed to understand, but held her hands towards her and grabbed at the air. Red claws sunk in the blankets to pick her up._

"Why not?"

_The figure stood at the window, the baby nestled in her arms. The baby snuggled into her breast, smiling calmly as she looked up into the shadow's face. _

"They were never supposed to exist. They're mistakes born from another mistake."

_"You look just like your mother," the figure whispered fondly, stroking the child's cheek. "Oh, my baby girl. You'll grow up so strong."_

"You don't mean that," Arabella nearly wept.

_"I'm so sorry. I can't be the mother you deserve."_

"No," Abigail confessed. "I don't."

_"But your mummy will take such good care of you, you won't even need me."_

Arabella could always tell when she was lying.

_The figure kissed her lovingly on the eyestalks and put her to bed._

Arabella could always see the side of her that was good underneath all of the parts of her that were bad.

_"Good night, my children. Sleep well."_

She had taken all the love she had for Bonnie and her estranged children and lavished it on Arabella.

_Click, clack, click, clack. In the master bedroom, Bonnie had fallen asleep half-dressed. The single mother lifestyle had already taken its toll._

Arabella could see nothing but love in her, because love was all she had given.

_"Good night, Bonnie." She stroked Bonnie's cheek and bent down to kiss her softly._

Her daughter could be so naive.

_"Goodbye, my love."_

A long silence followed. Abigail sipped her tea as if nothing had happened, but Arabella waited until the torrent of emotions in her mother subsided. She could see the way Abigail's shoulders relaxed ever so slightly, in the way that she no longer held her teacup white-knuckled, and how her eyes seemed to dim as she grew calmer. When an appropriate amount of time had passed, she spoke before Abigail could change the subject.

"Abby is your daughter, just as I am," she reminded her gently.

This time her mother set her teacup down, clearly frustrated. "I realize that, Arabella, but it's not so simple," she retorted shortly.

"Why not?"

"Why not?" Abigail repeated slowly, her brows rising. Arabella was taken aback: Abigail used that condescending tone to speak to her students, but never to her. Now she realized how humiliated and embarrassed the students felt.

"Yes, Mummy, I'm stupid, explain it to me," her daughter snapped, feeling another flare of defiance rise in her to cover her hurt. "You love Ms. Flint, you care about Abby and Nate—I know you do. So I don't understand why you can't be a part of their lives, why you have to hide from them all the time!"

"I am not—!" Abigail cut herself off, her lips forming a tight line as she attempted to calm herself. Taking a deep breath, she continued in a lower voice. "I know you are angry with me now, Arabella, but one day you will understand why I did what I did."

Arabella's normally warm eyes were now razor sharp and steel cold. "Oh, I understand. I understand that you couldn't risk your reputation being ruined from your mistake, so you threw everyone who truly loved you in the dirt just so you could spare yourself."

"It wasn't just about me, Arabella!" Abigail argued. "What about Bonnie, what about the twins? What about you? Do you know what they would say about you? Everything I ever did was to protect you!"

"By trapping me here? By separating me from my brother and sister, by lying to me?!" Arabella cried. "You know what they say about me now, Mummy? They call me 'The Princess of Scaring'! That should have been Abby's title, and you know it! She works so hard, so hard to be the perfect daughter for you, and you just push her away!"

"That's enough!" Abigail slammed her hands on the table, her chair screeching as she stood. "Arabella, I am done talking about this." Strangely, Arabella wasn't afraid of how dangerously low her voice had gotten. "As your mother, you will respect my decisions. And I do not appreciate this new attitude of yours."

The young girl closed her eyes as Abigail passed her, heading for the door. "Mummy."

The skittering of her mother's legs stopped. Arabella stood, turning to face her mother's back.

"It doesn't have to be like this," she pleaded quietly. "We can be a family."

She couldn't see her mother's face when her back was turned, but when her neck swiveled back she could see that Abigail's eyes were cold and vicious. "I would suggest, Arabella," she replied, "that you get your head out of your storybooks and put it into your scaring books."

Arabella watched as Abigail left, shutting the door behind her. She felt listless for a long moment, her body held up by strings.

Then the rage rose in her again, in full force. It consumed her broken heart and she felt nothing, nothing but pure fury. She relished in the feeling. It made her feel powerful. It boiled her blood, traveling up from her clenched fists and into her throat.

Her fangs parted as she opened her mouth, and out came out a ferocious sound. It was a cross between a scream, a shriek, and a roar. Arabella's roars were novice and unrefined, but it held all of her frustration and hurt, and it felt _good_ to let it out.

But as soon as it came, it was over. The rage melted away. Under the flames, her sadness still remained. It felt like her heart was full of holes. She clutched at her chest and fell to her knees. It wasn't long before soft sobs escaped her throat.

And behind her door stood Abigail Hardscrabble, her eyes shut tight as she listened to her daughter cry.

* * *

The Hide and Sneak event went on as planned. The remaining teams were instructed to make their way through a house. Referees were on guard and they faced the added danger of pressure plates and security cameras that would sound off an alarm. PNK were disqualified early on due to a fight breaking out amongst them. They had to be carried out separately as they tried to claw each other.

The crowd watched in awe as the first monster exited. All they could hear from the dark entrance was many layered skittering noises. Finally, two pairs of sharp legs emerged, followed by glowing silver eyes. Abby slowly descended down the stairs as if she hadn't even broken a sweat in the event, her piercing gaze sweeping over the cheering audience. Her sisters quickly followed in various states of exertion.

Seconds later, ROR came running out of the house completely out of breath. Jeremy snarled at the sight of Abby already at the finish line. Then he and the rest of his team were bowled over by a group of students with cameras and microphones. They made a beeline for Abby, who was surrounded by her teammates.

"Abby! Abby!" one girl panted, holding a microphone. The cameras around them flashed, making Abby squint. "Lyla Fae, Campus Roar. Congratulations on another victory for HSS!"

"Thank you."

"It's clear to everyone on campus that since you became the new president, HSS has rapidly risen to the top. What's your secret?"

"Well, if I told you, it wouldn't be much of secret, now would it?" Abby's smirk widened to show her sharp and jagged teeth.

Lyla blushed, but another boy spoke up, whose mouth had been hanging open at Abby since they arrived. "Has anyone told you you look a lot like Dean Hardscrabble?"

"Yes, I get that a lot. But, I assure you, the resemblance is purely coincidental."

"You're often compared to her," Lyla recovered. "How do you feel about that?"

A flicker of emotion passed Abby's eyes for the briefest of moments before they returned to their neutral expression. "It's an honor to be compared to such a legendary woman," she said with a grim smile. "And, of course, I respect her fully. However..."

The journalism group leaned in.

"She broke the scare record so many years ago, and it's been broken since. I'm not saying she shouldn't be respected, but perhaps...it's time for fresh blood." She grinned from eyestalk to eyestalk as the reporters' jaws all dropped. One scribbled furiously on a notebook.

Lyla began to ask another question, but Abby held her hand up to quiet her. "No more questions."

Of course, that didn't mean _no more pictures._ Abby was enveloped in flashes of light as she turned, her silver eyes fixed on a balcony shrouded in the darkness of the night. No one else could see, but Abby caught the outline of a tall figure with horns.

Abby gave her mother a smug smirk and added a mocking salute before turning to leave.

Had she raised the girl, the dean mused, she would not have been so disrespectful to her mother.


	13. The Trainer's Daughter

"Thanks for the ride, guys," Abby said cheerfully, swinging her legs in her seat.

The rest of her team, all five other members, were squished into the back seats of Mike's car (with six wheel drive!). Sophie sat on the president's lap, with Phoebe in the seat next to her, and Amber, Lily, and Lexi were pushed together in the very last row.

"No problem," Mike replied. "We were going to go in anyway."

"Yeah, 'cause _someone_ forgot his paperwork," Sulley teased him, turning his green face bright red.

Abby laughed. But except for her and Sophie, the rest of HSS had their jaws to the floor.

"Are you really _the_ James Sullivan?" Phoebe asked in awe.

Sulley waved her off, flattered. "Just call me Sulley."

"And _you're_ friends with Abby?" Amber added with a hint of incredulous doubt. She leaned forward in her seat, putting a hand on Phoebe's seat.

"Yep. Known her since she was just a baby."

"REALLY?" Amber, Lily, Phoebe, and Sophie all shouted at once. Abby blushed brightly as she knew the torrent of questions to come.

"What was she like?" "Did she poop her pants?" "Was she a crybaby?" "Did she bite anyone?" "Did she drool a lot?" "Was she a dumb kid or a smart one?"

Sulley laughed, attempting to cut them off. "Guys, guys. Abby was a pretty smart kid, and hatched scary. But she always got into trouble. She _did_ have a habit of biting..."

"Every little monster bites!" Abby defended, her face flush. "I was teething!"

"And she got kicked out of employee daycare _and_ preschool," Mike added. "Both for fighting. They told Ms. Flint she 'did not play well with others' and had to be separated from other kids during playtime."

"Everyone is stupid," Abby grumbled, glaring out the window.

"Aw, Abby. A true HSS girl from the start," Phoebe cooed, reaching over to pinch her cheeks. Abby withstood the gesture for only a few moments before she smacked her hand away.

"So I was a problem child," the centipede girl admitted with a roll of her eyes. "So what? I bet you all were!"

"Yeah, but I never got kicked out of preschool," Amber snorted.

"Shut up!" Abby reached over to claw at Amber, who shrunk back into her seat with laughter. Phoebe desperately tried to break the two up. "Girls, girls! Behave!"

"You don't know what it was like for me!" Abby snarled, lunging at her. "All of the other kids made fun of me! Told me that I was dumb and not scary and that's why my Mom left! They told me my Mama didn't even want me, that she just had to take care of me because no one else would take me! So yeah, I got into fights! What about it?"

Amber's eyes widened. The rest of the car looked sheepish and grim as Abby folded her arms and scowled out the window.

"Sorry, I didn't—"

"It's fine." Abby leaned her head against the window. "Happened a long time ago. Water under the bridge, practically."

An stiff silence followed until Sulley cleared his throat and pointed to the upcoming factory. "Hey, look! We're here!" he laughed awkwardly.

The girls all leaned forward in awe of the massive building. Smoke rose from the pipes, a clear sign of the amount of energy being harvested. Even Abby's eyes flicked over to coolly observe the place.

Mike swiped into the parking lot with his card and pulled into an open parking space. The girls all burst out of the car as soon as they stopped, chattering excitedly amongst themselves. Abby stepped out of the car calmly behind them.

"They seem excited," Mike commented as the girls raced each other to the entrance.

"They better enjoy it while it lasts," Abby replied, cracking her neck and shoulders. "They have a long day ahead of them." She peered at the two beneath her lashes. "Thank you again."

"Hey, if you ever need anything, you know who to call," Sulley said warmly. He held out his arms for a hug. Abby paused, looked around for any spectators to her kind and gentle gesture, then embraced him.

Mike stood back without a word, but Abby turned to him and smiled. It always stunned Mike how soft Abby could be. She pretended to be her mother, cold and ruthless, but deep down a part of her would always be that little girl they cared for. The one who would climb on Sulley's shoulders and gaze in awe at the view, the one who needed to be held when she missed her mother, and the one who would willingly hug Mike even if he was a "funny-looking eyeball".

After they parted, Abby met up with her sorority at the receptionist desk. She passed her sisters by and leaned over the counter to talk to the snake-haired woman behind it.

"Hello, Celia."

"Abby! It's so nice to see you!" Celia gushed, standing up to pull Abby's head against her chest in a hug. Abby reddened, but regained her composure before the girls could see. "And are these your friends?" She and all of her snakes smiled at the girls, who greeted her politely.

"Well...they're my sorority sisters. We're on a team in the Scare Games. We've won every event except one...the Scare Simulator. Is Mama in?"

"Nope."

"Perfect." Abby grinned and rubbed her hands together. "Keep everyone out of the sim room today, will you?"

"Can do!"

"I knew I could count on you, Celia. Good luck with your date tonight."

"Thanks! And good luck with your event!" Waving Celia goodbye, the girls followed Abby down the hall. They each marvelled at the Scare Floors they passed, whispering amongst themselves about techniques and famous scarers. Abby seemed nonplussed about the building, and kept her cool composure until a large form pounced on her and lifted her into the air.

**"AAAAAA! IS THAT MY ABBY?"**

"Agh!" Abby wheezed, her intestines screaming at the stranglehold. All thirty of her legs flailed uselessly. "Rosie! Can't breathe!"

"Heh, sorry." Rosie put her down gently. "You're a sight for sore eyes, kid! Where've you been? Everyone's been asking about you!" Then she gasped, eyeing Abby's jacket. There was no denying the HSS logo embroidered on her collar. She noticed the rest of the girls, all standing around, all dressed in black with HSS designs. "Ab. No way."

"Yep." Abby shrugged her shoulders carelessly, smirking in pride. "You're looking at Eta Hiss Hiss' new president."

"You little rascal! Good for you!" Rosie punched her in the shoulder, making Abby stagger a few feet. Her legs crossed themselves but righted quickly after. She smiled, but rubbed her shoulder with a wince. "You didn't even tell me you got in! And here you are, the new president!"

"Sorry, Rose...been busy."

"Is that...Rosie Levin?" Phoebe finally blurted out. The rest of HSS had been staring in captivated wonder.

"The one and only!" Rosie laughed.

"Secret handshake!" Amber shouted, raising her fist. Rosie hit it, slapped her open palm, and a number of other tricks that they performed perfectly in sync with each other. When they finished, they both laughed. "Oh my god, dude, you are _so_ awesome! I want to be you. I mean, I want to be _like_ you. If-If that doesn't sound too creepy." A flustered Amber was tripping over her words, but Rosie took the compliment.

"Aw, thanks!" the scarer smiled. "You will be like me if you keep working at it. I promise you."

Abby pursed her lips. "Right. Rosie, this is my team: Amber, Phoebe, Lily, Sophie, and—"

"—Lexi?"

Rosie and Lexi turned and stared at each other in a strange standoff. Rosie seemed surprised to see Lexi standing there, and Lexi seemed grim at the sight of Rosie. Abby and the rest of the team watched curiously, but no explanation came from either of them.

"Ah, well," Rosie said after a minute. "Back to the grind." She rubbed Abby between the eyestalks affectionately. "Good luck, Abby."

"I won't need it," she replied dryly.

"That's a HSS girl." Rosie clicked her tongue and winked at her as she walked away.

Abby was left wondering what went down between the two when Sophie spoke up. "Abby, you sure know a lot of monsters around here!"

"I told you," she sighed as she guided them to the back offices. "I grew up here. My mama was a working single mother and I...had my issues in daycares and preschools, so she would bring my brother and I here. The scarers would look after us while she worked. They were my friends for a long time. I learned a lot from them."

She ignored the muttering of "lucky" behind her and stopped in front of two double doors. "Here we are."

Throwing the doors open automatically triggered the lights. The simulator stood, in all its glory, in the middle of the room. The rest of HSS all gasped in astonishment, but Abby's eyes diverted to the control panel. "Alright. Who's first?"

"Um." Before anyone else could volunteer, Lexi stepped forward. "Me. I...I want to."

Abby turned to stare at her. "What's that?"

"Me!" Lexi said, louder and more confidently.

"That's better." Abby nodded to the door station in front of the simulator. "Starting position."

As Lexi meandered up to the door, Abby took her mother's seat in front of the control panel. Phoebe approached her as she cracked her knuckles. "Sure you know how to work this?"

"Please," Abby snapped, slightly offended. "I've seen my mother do this plenty of times." But as she flipped switches and dials, one accidentally shut off the cameras. "Whoops. Ready, Lexi?"

Lexi nodded, and Abby flipped one last switch.

"Simulation start." The wall to the simulator lowered and the lights dimmed. As it set, Lexi swallowed. She opened the door and crept inside, making sure to avoid the toys that had been scattered along the floor. But a particular large step made the floor creak, and the child dummy slowly rose in suspicion.

At this point, a seasoned scarer would have prepared their scare. Unfortunately, Lexi did not. Instead, as the boy's head turned to her, she shrieked in terror and crashed against the plastic window.

"Simulation terminated." Phoebe had her hands over her face and Lily looked skeptic, but Abby's face hadn't changed.

"I'm sorry! I just got freaked out!" Lexi cried. "It's so creepy!"

"It's okay, that's what we're practicing for," the centipede girl soothed calmly. "Let's try it again. And remember, this simulator is state-of-the-art, so it's a touch more sensitive than the one we have at school. Don't worry if your score isn't what you think it should be."

Abby restarted the simulator as many times as she needed. Lexi had to stop and watch the doll with the lights on to get completely comfortable with it, but soon she scared it easily. Phoebe's also went well, although Abby could tell she was trying different styles that she hadn't yet incorporated. However, Amber got caught in her own tentacles and hurled the soccer ball at the dummy in a rage, and Sophie jumped on the bed and laughed instead of scaring. Lily's performance barely scraped a quarter of a scream can.

Abby worked with the team all day, perfecting their positioning and offering advice. She gave each of the girls a chance to rest while she worked with another one-on-one. She only took a break when Celia came in with apple juice and cookies from the break room. Then they all gathered in a circle and exchanged stories until Abby ordered them back to work.

When it was time to leave, the team filed out of the simulator room chattering amongst themselves. Before Lexi could follow them, Abby grabbed her arm.

Lexi turned to meet eye to eye with Abby's silver pools. "What happened between you and Rosie?" she asked. Her voice held no malice, only curiosity. The older avoided her gaze, but Abby did not relent. "You're related to her, aren't you? You look a bit like her."

"She's my aunt," Lexi finally murmured. A silent moment followed before she spoke again. "You know, everyone in my family thought I was hopeless. But you, Abby, you showed me differently. You believed in me and what I was capable of."

Abby wondered if anyone else could understand that as well as she could. Being rejected by your family was something she knew all too well. It was a shame that instead of motivating Lexi like it had Abby, her family's constant rejection beat her down into a quiet, unheard presence. Until now.

Lexi took Abby's hands in hers and gazed warmly into her eyes. "And not just for me," she continued. "For all of us. You didn't just give us scaring advice, you gave us the confidence to be the best we can be. That's why you deserve to be president. Thank you, Abby. For everything."

Abby flushed a dusty maroon. "Oh," was all she could say. "It's nothing."

* * *

Freshly painted claws wrapped around the knob of a dressing table. Pulling the drawer out revealed a few makeup supplies and a collection of bows. Oddly enough, while some of them were intact, others had been scorched or ripped. Orange fingers placed the bottle of nail polish in and shut the drawer.

When Arabella looked in the mirror again, her mother was standing at the doorway.

Ignoring her, she began the process of loosing the white bow from around her horn. Her mother remained silent as she watched with razor sharp eyes. Arabella didn't feel anxious or scared, as others did. She patiently waited for her mother to speak.

"Do you truly plan to go the event tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Another silence. "I suppose I can't stop you."

Arabella unwrapped the bow. "No." When Abigail didn't say anything further, she reached for her other bow. She began to loosen it from around her horns as well, but she fumbled with it. Before she could get a better grip, her mother's hand covered hers. The elder then began to undo the fabric around her daughter's horn. Arabella remained silent and still.

"I know we have a lot to talk about," Abigail sighed, purposefully taking her time with the bow. "I know you have a lot of questions. I will answer them in time. But now, I have a question for you."

Arabella didn't answer.

"I know that...you and that girl are close. I know that she visited you in the hospital, and I know you've been seeing her behind my back, and I know that you're going to the event tomorrow because of her. But why? Arabella, that girl feels nothing for you but contempt and jealousy. She attacked you when you were a little girl out of pure rage. Why do you give so much of yourself to someone who feels threatened by your mere existence?"

Arabella had that look in her eyes again, that one Abigail hated. She thought her mother was wrong. Arabella used to believe her so fully, and now she didn't trust her at all. Not only was it sad, it was infuriating. Arabella knew that she was_ never wrong_, so her blatant disregard only made the dean's ire worse.

"She may have used to feel that way, but things have changed," Arabella said. "When she attacked me when we were little, it was out of desperation. I could see it in her eyes. She was so lonely. She had her brother, and her mother, but she still felt alone. There was no one that could understand her. She thought you could, but it was me that did. There is no one, _no one_ that could understand her better than I do. Not even you."

She closed her eyes as she remembered the look on her young sister's face. Her claws extended, her face contorted with pain, a desperate and lonely look in her eyes. "I knew what she was feeling. I knew what it was like to be surrounded by people and yet feel so alone. And she knew me, too. That's why...she warmed to me, and we're best friends now."

She crossly glanced at her mother's reflection in the mirror. "Not that you would know anything about friendship."

Abigail frowned thunderously and placed the unwrapped bow onto the vanity. "I simply worry that you will get hurt."

"From who? From _Abby?_" In a surge of frustration, Arabella swept away from her mother in a huff. "She's not evil, Mummy! She's not some sort of villain who's out to get me! She's _sensitive_ and she cares so much about everything, maybe even too much sometimes. She might not always know how to handle what she's feeling and she doesn't know how to outwardly show her love but that doesn't mean she doesn't have any. And yes, she might be a little selfish sometimes, but that doesn't make her bad."

She approached Abigail again, clutching her wrists as she looked into her eyes. "It just makes her like you!"

The young girl desperately wanted to change her mind, despite knowing that it would be almost impossible. They were both so stubborn. But maybe trying to get Abigail to see herself in her daughter would be a good start. If there was anything the dean truly loved, it was herself. If she could see Abby as a misunderstood genius, like herself, then maybe...

"I would never do those things," Abigail scoffed. "I at least have the capacity to control my anger, and the knowledge not to do anything idiotic like she's done!"

"Really? You've never done anything stupid?" Arabella snapped.

"Arabella," her mother warned.

"I just don't understand." Arabella's hands fell to her sides. "She loves you. She'd give the world to you, and you take every opportunity you can to beat her down. I know you love her, I do. I know you love her deep, deep down. But she doesn't. If you and her continue like this...I just don't want her to get hurt. I'm her older sister, after all."

Taking a deep breath, she let out a shaky sigh. "I'm her older sister. I wasn't there for a lot of things in her life that I should have been, but I'm going to be there for her now. That's why I'm going to the scare simulator event tomorrow and you can't stop me."

Abigail's face had frozen into a venomous glare, but she slowly composed herself. It was clear she was finished with the conversation. "Very well, then," she said shortly, walking out the door. "Good night, Arabella."

"Good night, Mummy."


	14. The Scarer's Daughter

"Where is she? She was supposed to be here ten minutes ago!"

"Relax, she's coming. There's no way she'd miss it."

"Do you think she wimped out on us?"

"This is Abby we're talking about."

"Look, there she is!"

True to Sophie's word, the team of murmuring goth girls turned to see their president stalk out from the shadows of the trees behind the amphitheater. Hands behind her back, all thirty of her legs clicked against each other as she strolled across the field. There was a dark, serious look in her eyes.

"Abby! There you are," Phoebe sighed as she approached.

"You didn't think I'd miss it, did you?" Abby retorted with a wry smirk. Lily, Amber, and Phoebe made various awkward throat noises and couldn't meet her eye.

The amphitheater was filling with students now. The teams had to be there in advance, but of course Abby was fashionably late for reasons her sorority didn't understand. She glanced around and gasped. Ignoring her sisters' questions, she strode up to the first row of seats. "Mama, you made it!"

Bonnie set her phone down and smiled at her daughter. "Of course I did. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"And you brought Mike and Sulley!"

"They brought themselves," Bonnie sighed, eyeing the two next to her who waved at Abby.

Abby laughed and smiled. "You guys are going to cheer for me, right?"

"I'm cheering for both of you," her mother insisted, as Mike and Sulley nodded enthusiastically. But before Abby could pout, another voice chimed in.

"—But I'll be cheering for you."

Recognizing the voice, Abby turned. Standing beside her, cloaked in a long hooded jacket, stood her sister. Her hood covered her face, but Abby could still make out the bandages hidden beneath. She was carrying a basket of baked goods, which Sophie dove for. Arabella held it out of her reach. "Ah, ah, ah! It's for _after_!"

"Arabella, you came!" Abby pounced on her, gripping her tightly in a hug.

"Of course I did. I'm your sister, after all," Arabella murmured, rubbing her younger sister's back. "I had to come and cheer you on."

Abby pulled away, tears in her eyes. She tried to blink them away with a smile. "Thank you."

Arabella smiled in reply. Then she turned to the snake monstress in the seats and her smile grew. "You must be Ms. Flint!" she exclaimed, bouncing up to her. "I've heard so much about you." She looked the older monstress up and down, blushing. "My goodness, you are so pretty!"

Bonnie blushed her own shade of violet. "Oh. Thank you. You must be Abigail's—erm, Dean Hardscrabble's daughter."

Arabella looked thrilled that Ms. Flint recognized her. "Yes! My name is Arabella, Arabella Hardscrabble. This is for you!" She pulled a small box from the basket and presented it to the other.

Bonnie blinked. "What? For me?" At Arabella's enthusiastic nod, and the fact that she didn't leave, Bonnie decided to open the box. In it was two beautifully crafted cufflinks in the shape of hissing snakes. Golden claws met her chest. "Oh my goodness. This is beautiful."

Arabella leaned over the side to point at the gifts. "Oh, yes, I made them myself. Mummy told me your birthday was in April—mine, too!—so the snakes' eyes are diamonds! That's our birthstone."

"But what is this for?"

"I thought I would give you something to commemorate our first encounter!" Arabella giggled, sweetly folding her hands together. "Besides, you're Abby's mummy, and you deserve something nice."

Bonnie's jaw dropped and she had no intention of picking it back up.

Abby groaned. "Are you _trying_ to get her to adopt you?"

"Shh, Abby!" Arabella laughed, bounding over to her sister and putting a claw over her mouth. Before Abby could say anything else, they both heard a screeching sound fill the air. No one seemed to notice but them, but both of their heads swung to the stairwell. A familiar form landed and opened bright amber eyes to stare at them.

They matched stares in silence for a moment. Then the student council president's voice spoke up over the loudspeaker. "Please rise for the alma mater."

"You can do it, Abby," Arabella whispered, before tugging her hood down and disappearing into the crowd. Amber yanked Abby over to their side of the field, where the team stood in a line.

Abby felt her mouth move and she felt her throat vibrate with the words, but she couldn't hear herself singing. Everything seemed like white noise around her, except for one. Her mother's presence was so domineering that it sliced through everything else, taking over her thoughts. All she could see was that form, her upturned horns and those cold amber eyes.

"...hail to you."

Then she felt a hand on her shoulder, and suddenly the fog in her mind shuddered. Silver eyes slid numbly over to see Lexi looking at her worriedly. "It's okay. Don't get freaked out."

Abby's cloudy gray eyes suddenly cleared. Scowling, she shoved past Lexi and gestured for the group to gather around. "Alright, just like we practiced. Amber, you're first. Start strong."

Amber nodded and turned to the opposing team. She snarled at her competitor, a stocky purple frat boy with four arms. He growled at her back as they took their positions at the starting line.

"Hey, buddy, if you go easy on her, you might get her number!" Jeremy shouted from the sidelines. The boy smirked at her and winked, causing Amber to hiss.

As the timer struck zero, Amber raced forward in time with the ROR monster. She grabbed the scare report and glanced it over. The child's fear was vomiting. Right, Abby taught her this one: it was a specialized roar that sounded like throwing up. She just had to reach down into her vocal cords to pull it out.

Slithering over the toys gracefully with her tentacles, she tapped on the bed frame to rouse the robotic child. It glanced over to the sound, but Amber was already on the other side of the bed. When its head spun to see her, she dug out her most disgusting roar.

The teams watched the scream canisters on the screen give their percentage. Amber scored a 67%, while her competitor scored a 50%. All of HSS except Abby cheered; the president had a proud smirk on her face.

Amber sauntered out of the room, smirking at the boy. "That's how a girl scares."

"Next competitor to the starting line!"

Sophie bounced to the starting line, giggling and laughing. The blue monster with a nose horn next to her curled his lip in distaste. Abby grimaced; she had never really gotten Sophie under control, and there was no way to tell how she'd behave.

As the timer sounded off, Sophie bounced to the simulator. She gave her report a glance before swinging into the room on a line of webbing. Settling on the ceiling, she spun her webbing in her hands and dropped a small piece of it onto the robot child's face. When it awoke and peeled off the webbing curiously, Sophie descended from her perch and screamed.

Although she made a good score, her competitor's ended up being better. Abby's face remained cool and she congratulated Sophie on a well-executed scare, even as the rest of her team was disappointed.

Lexi was next. Abby gave her a comforting pat on the back and a shove to the starting line.

Lexi thumped her tail against the child's bed to awaken it, and then popped up from behind to scare it. However, her roar registered the lowest of her team's at 42%. Abby's face hadn't changed, but the rest of the team could tell she worried by the way she rubbed her claws together and scraped the pitch black paint off.

"That was still a respectable scare," Abby said, as Lexi lumbered back looking downcast. "Be proud of yourself. You've made great progress."

Phoebe made her way to the startling line after Lexi. Abby was impressed with the way she fanned her fins out in her roar: it made her seem much more uniquely terrifying. She managed to get HSS' overall score up by beating her competitor by 30%.

Lily was next. Although she seemed confident at first, she now turned to Abby with a hesitant look. Her competition ended up being the president's own twin brother. Abby stared at her for a moment before looking up to the ROR team. The boys were patting her brother on the back, encouraging and revving him up. Then her eyes returned to Lily's, and she nodded.

Lily took a deep breath before joining the starting line with Nate. She glanced up at the scores. She would have to beat Nate if Abby had any chance of pulling through for them. But despite his laid-back attitude, Nate was a Hardscrabble. He had natural scaring blood flowing through his veins. And Abby always did call her the weak link in the team.

The chances weren't looking good.

As the buzzer sounded, Nate leaped forward as his wings brushed out for an extra boost. Lily stumbled after him, left in his dust. As the boy inspected his scare report, Lily took a look at hers. The "five year old girl" had gelotophobia. She knew this scare: it was only the matter of pulling it off.

Nate had already entered his room. He slithered nimbly past the toys and up to the side of the bed. Instead of crouching low, he smiled at the dummy child.

Outside, the smiles slid from his team's faces and into confused frowns.

He beat his wings once, a powerful gust of wind waking the child up. As the robot rose, he didn't move to a scaring position. Instead, as the child looked at him, he simply waved. "Hey," he said.

**"WHAT?"** his team roared.

As he emerged, chattering arose among the stadium. Jeremy stormed up to him. "What the hell, Flint? You think you're _funny_?"

"Actually, yeah. I think it's hilarious to see your blue face go red," Nate laughed.

"You're a ROR! You're a _scarer!_" Jeremy shouted.

Nate's amused grin faded. "Not anymore. I'm sick of you losers. You know, when I joined you guys, I thought you would be cool and we could hang out. But my sister was right. You're only jerks who think you're better than everyone else because you wear these stupid, tight sweaters!"

He leaned over, his wings straining against the poorly sewn holes in the back. Finally, his wings won out. As the sweater holes ripped open, he extended his scarlet wings fully for the first time in months. The audience gasped in amazement as the light passed through them, making a gorgeous red tint.

"That's better." He beat his wings again, causing a hurricane force gust to sweep over the team and the audience. Folding them back, he turned away from Jeremy and his group to approach Abby.

"Nate," she began, her eyes wide. "You...threw the event? For me?"

He shrugged. "This thing is way more important to you than it is for me. And you were right, Abby. I should have listened to you. I'm sorry. Are we cool again?"

His twin softly smiled and embraced him. "We're cool."

"Thanks. It sucked being mad at you," he sighed, tucking his head into Abby's neck.

They parted, and he punched her playfully in the shoulder. "Break a leg, sis." Then he took off, flying over the audience only to land next to Oozma Kappa. They seemed scared of him at first, but from his body language he seemed to be gently apologizing to them. Abby smiled at the sight before taking a deep breath. She was next.

"Whoo! Go Abby!" Arabella cried from the sidelines. She had taken the seat to Bonnie's right, waving a HSS flag in the air. Bonnie was also cheering for her, as well as Mike and Sulley. Abby smiled at them before turning to where her mother had perched herself.

Again, she was caught in Abigail's ice cold look. But she didn't let it consume her this time. It was easier to pretend that her mother was also cheering her own, in her own way. She simply nodded and turned to approach the starting line.

"Heh. Your brother may have set us back, but you might as well give up. I'm going to beat you, after all. I'm a Worthington." Jeremy sneered at her, probably as an attempt to intimidate the seven foot tall centipede monstress.

Abby looked at him nonchalantly, offering him only a purse of her lips. "Years ago, when the Scare Games were first founded, a Hardscrabble and a Worthington stood on this very field. My mother wiped the floor with your grandfather. And now, history is about to repeat itself."

Jeremy snarled as he took his starting position along with Abby. "You're not even a Hardscrabble."

"If I'm not a Hardscrabble, you're not a Worthington," she replied coolly. At his disbelief, she smiled. "Know your enemy. _Jeremy_."

The timer hit zero. Jeremy raced forward on all fours, snarling and growling. Abby's legs made quick work of the distance, and they both glanced over their scare reports. Shutting hers, she entered the room more carefully than her enraged competitor.

While Jeremy crawled over the toys, Abby meticulously maneuvered all of her legs over them. Jeremy's low growls woke the child, while Abby's tapping legs roused hers. They were both cloaked in shadow except for their eyes. Jeremy's were almost red with fury, while Abby's were sharp and intense.

Jeremy leaped forward and gave a deafening roar. His score read 95%.

Arabella gulped. Bonnie, Mike, Sulley, and the rest of HSS looked worried and anxious: Abby would have to pull off an incredible scare to beat him.

Abigail simply watched from the sidelines.

Abby's eyes lit as the child looked around. She waited in the shadows for the perfect moment, when the child would let its guard down but not go back to sleep yet. She clutched at her chest, wishing for the dragon in her to help. Last time, her mother said her roar had too much of a hiss to be of any use, but that was going to change.

Once she saw the perfect moment, she leaped forward. Climbing back on her last eight legs, she held herself aloft as she spread her legs and claws. She roared with all of her might, at the top of her lungs.

Her score registered on the scoreboard.

98%.

Abby wasn't even aware what her score was when she exited. But by the excited smiles on her team's face, the proud one on her Mama's, and chants of "HSS!" from the audience, she could take a good guess who won. She drank in the sight of Jeremy looking devastated.

She turned around to look at the scoreboard. She had scored a record scare. An almost perfect scare at her age was unheard of. The rest of her team tackled her, all shouting compliments at her. Abby reveled in it: she would tell them that they mattered later.

Arabella pranced across the field in her dress, followed by Nate and Bonnie. She gave Abby a hug, but it was soon cut off by Nate lifting his sister in the air. They all kept talking around her, their voices mixing and blending in, and Abby smiled at all of them.

* * *

After most of the audience had left and things had winded down, Abby was left with her team and her family. Bonnie was discussing celebration plans with Mike and Sulley, while the team took turns admiring the trophy.

Just as she was passed the trophy, Abby's attention diverted to a screeching noise in the distance. Almost as if she was possessed, she began to follow it. The team didn't think much of her flimsy excuses for air, but Arabella noticed. Tugging on Bonnie's sleeve, she looked up at her. "I think we should follow her."

Bonnie raised a fin in confusion. "Why?"

"She's going to see Mummy."


	15. Confrontation

The door looked so imposing. Had it always been this tall? This wide? This intimidating?

Abby felt bugs crawl on her insides. Her hand, raised to knock, shook helplessly in the air.

She was a monster, she reminded herself. She wasn't to be scared. She was to be scary. She steeled herself, insides and all, and threw open the door.

Hardscrabble was already on the other side of the enormous entryway, heading to her office. She stopped when the door opened, only barely turning her head.

Abby's breath couldn't come. She hastily pushed her fear away and yelled "HEY!" across the hall.

Hardscrabble turned to face her, seemingly annoyed at the shout. She raised a brow. "Yes?"

"I did it," Abby forced out. It took everything she had to speak. Her fear crept closer and closer. "I won the Scare Games."

"That you did," Hardscrabble drawled. "I'll have registration promptly re-enroll you." And with that, she turned to leave.

Abby scuttled forward, eyes wide. "That's it?!" she shouted.

Hardscrabble winced, as if Abby's voice was more bothersome than anything. "Yes, but I assume you're not finished shouting at me yet."

"You're right, I'm not finished!" As Abby approached her mother, the door opened to reveal Arabella and Nate. Their sister didn't notice as she launched into a tirade. "You are such a stuck-up, arrogant bitch! You're too proud to even admit to me that I did well, even though you're really impressed on the inside! But no, I'm your bastard child, right? Can't show that thing any appreciation! She might get attached!" Abby roared and smashed her fist into the nearby wall, making an impressive hole and knocking a vase onto the floor. Her eyes were wide and furious, her serpent irises the barest slits against the silver.

All through her rage, Hardscrabble stood calmly. She looked somewhat unimpressed by Abby's wrath.

"And you know what I've decided? Fuck you! And fuck _me _for _ever_ thinking even for a tenth of a second that you would ever put aside your fucking pride and show me the barest hint of warmth!"

Arabella held her hands close to her heart. "Abby..." she whispered.

"Arabella," came a gruff voice. Arabella's eyes widened to dots as Professor Knight lumbered over to her. She barely got past her greeting before he clamped his huge hand on her arm and pulled her away to his classroom. Nate looked between Abby and Arabella, not sure who to watch over.

"Are you quite finished?" Hardscrabble asked dryly.

By now, the light had hit Abby's eyes to reveal they were slick with tears. She gave one last attempt at a brave face before running full tilt towards Hardscrabble. Her mother barely sidestepped before Abby knocked into her, sprinting towards the exit on the other side.

Nate's eyes widened. He unraveled his wings and flew towards Knight's classroom.

Hardscrabble huffed, brushing herself off. Then she froze, patting herself down.

Her keys were gone.

* * *

"Daddy- Father- please-"

"Shut up," Knight growled, throwing Arabella into the room. "It's bad enough your bastard sister is a better scarer than you. But tonight threw that fact into everyone's face. It should have been you on that field. It should have been _my child_\- the legendary scarer!"

"I'm so sorry," Arabella croaked, backing away until she was trapped in the corner. "Please...Mummy..."

Knight advanced. "Don't even bother. Your mother isn't coming. She doesn't want to see your face ever again after tonight. You are an embarrassment to her name. You're pathetic! You're weak!"

He raised his hand to strike. Time seemed to slow. Arabella's face was full of fear. Knight's hand seemed to slowly come down. And then, just when it was about to make contact-

She was whisked away.

The classroom flew by as a blur. Arabella blinked, then looked up to see her half brother with the grimmest expression that she had seen on his face. He set her down carefully on the top step.

Arabella paused for a second before frantically gripping her horns in panic. "No no no no no please no! He'll be so mad! He'll be so mad!"

Nate glared at the offender in question. "It's OK, Bella. He won't hurt you ever again."

"But...but..."

"GIVE HER TO ME!" Knight roared, charging like a bull up the stairs. Nate grabbed Arabella and took off just before he smashed into the wall. Setting her down gently, Nate took off again, but this time straight for Knight. He threw a punch at high speed, but Knight's massive fist struck him first. He rocketed back into the wall.

Arabella gasped as debris fell around Nate's limp form. She couldn't bear watching this, but what could she do? She could never stand up to her father...could she?

Nate came to life just before Knight reached him again. Nimbly darting away, he stayed in the air as he tried to formulate a strategy. Knight stared hard at him, baring his teeth.

Just then, Arabella stepped onto the floor.

"Bella, what are you doing?" Nate cried. "Get back!"

"No, Nate," Arabella said calmly, but firmly. "I have to do this."

Knight turned to her, temper visibly flaring.

"I have to make sure no one gets hurt because of me," she whispered.

Knight stomped towards her, fist clenched.

"Don't be scared," Arabella repeated, a mantra of her mother's, "Be scary!"

Knight raised his fist. Arabella's hand flew to her pocket, then shot out to the side.

A flash of silver, then Knight screamed. Blood poured from his eye, stemming from the needle embedded deep into his iris. He continued to scream as Nate rushed Arabella out of the classroom. They pushed shelves and bookcases against the door to keep him inside.

"Bella," Nate panted, "That was awesome."

"Not very ladylike, though," Arabella sighed, frowning at the blood stains in her clothes.

* * *

Nighttime had fallen, but the city of Monstopolis was very much alive. Lamps lit the highway as Abby floored the gas of the expensive convertible.

"What's she got in the way of music?" Abby murmured to herself, digging through the glove compartment. She pulled out a CD and made a face. "Classical? Absolutely not," she scoffed, throwing the CD out the window. She turned the radio on instead, jamming out to the rock station.

"Ah. There's my exit," Abby muttered, swerving over three lanes of traffic to take the road off the highway. The lights of the factory came into view. She careened into the parking lot and smashed up against a minivan before hopping out.

"Not bad for a monstress without a license," she commented, locking the vehicle.

Up above, yellow eyes flashed in the dark.

* * *

"What do you mean, she's gone?" Bonnie asked sharply.

"I mean, she took the dean's keys and left," Nate said flatly.

Bonnie slapped her hand to her eyes. "Okay," she huffed. "Do you know where she went?"

"The factory."

"Why?"

"Do I have to say it?"

Bonnie huffed again. "Let's go."

"Can I come too?" Arabella piped up.

"Sure, why- what. Why are you covered in blood?"

"It's a long story."

"What the- never mind. Get in."

* * *

A/N: hey guys! about time i finished this up, right?


	16. Scaring The Unscareable

RESTRICTED FILES - DO NOT OPEN

Abby ignored the warning label as she pried open the filing cabinet. Flipping through the files, she hummed as one popped out at her.

THOMAS ANDERSON

FEAR OF BUGS

FIREARM DETECTED IN HOUSEHOLD

CATEGORY: UNSCAREABLE

"Fear of bugs, huh?" Abby smirked. "Well, Thomas. You and I are about to make history."

* * *

Abigail Hardscrabble crashed unceremoniously through the glass doors of the factory, looking wildly around. The factory was alive and bustling with the night shift, but no sign of Abby in sight. Where could that girl have gone? No, the better question was: where would she herself go? If she had been rejected, abandoned? The answer was simple, but frightening.

She would prove that she was worthy of that love. She would do anything it took, no matter how reckless. And so would Abby.

With that terrifying thought, Abigail rushed through the hall, stumbling into protesting scarers without a second thought. She had to get to that room. She hoped Abby wouldn't be that stupid, but to her dismay she found the room ransacked.

Abby had been here, and she had rifled through the restricted files. One was missing.

Abigail shot out of the door and down the hall to the nearest empty scare floor. There she found Abby, having just called down the closet door to the human world. She was looking at the restricted file in question when she glanced up and met Abigail's eyes.

Rage built between them.

Then a race began.

Abigail lunged, but Abby was faster. The younger slammed on the lockdown button, trapping the elder past the gate. Abigail scratched and clawed at the metal, yelling at Abby. "Stop! Don't go in there! It's dangerous! You don't know what you're doing!"

Eyes full of fire and a tint of fear, Abby's hand hovered over the doorknob. Then, steeling herself, she ripped the door open and disappeared.

"NO!" Abigail screamed, throwing herself against the gate.

* * *

The boy's room was nothing special. Green army men surrounded the young monstress, as if they were a flimsy defense. But an advanced scarer like her scuttled past them with expertise. She made sure to make just enough noise to rouse the child.

And rouse he did. Abby blended into the shadows as he looked around. Then she darted to the other side of the room, making sure he knew a bug was here.

"Hello?" he whimpered, shaking in his sheets. "Who's there?"

Abby chose that moment to quietly advance, letting the light pour over her body inch by inch. The boy turned his head up and up until he finally met her silver eyes.

Then she roared.

And the boy produced the most wonderful scream. Her hiss/roar combination was just convincing enough to show that she was a big bug, and she meant business. She let up slowly, smirking. Surely the scream canister was overflowing by now. Who said this kid was unscareable? Newbies?

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal the father with a pistol in hand.

Abby knew she had to move. Her best bet was to retreat back to the shadows, or try to escape back to the monster world. But she couldn't move an inch. She was frozen in fear.

The man raised the gun, and time slowed down.

He squeezed the trigger. Abby shielded herself with her hands. A blur came flying out of the closet door and pinned her to the ground.

Time sped up. Abby was aware of two things: a searing pain in her arm, and Dean Hardscrabble hovering over her.

"He got you," Hardscrabble whispered faintly, looking at her wet arm. She looked...worried. Scared, even. Then the man reloaded the gun and that look twisted into pure fury.

Rearing up and extending her wings, Hardscrabble roared in the man's face. It wasn't a low roar; she screamed in anger and flung out her claws. The gun hit the wall and clattered to the floor. Recognition flaring in his eyes, the man fell to the floor, . "It's you," he cried. "M-m-my m-monster!"

Hardscrabble screamed another roar, berserk with rage. She threw her hand up, claws gleaming in the moonlight. She was only stopped by a hand clamping onto her wrist.

"No! You can't leave a mark!" Abby shouted, holding her mother back.

Abigail's eyes returned to normal at the sound of her daughter's voice. Turning around, she held Abby's face in her hands and looked into her eyes. She seemed to calm simply at the sight of Abby, alive.

"Let's get out of here," Abby said.

Abigail smiled. Suddenly she looked over to the father, who was picking up his gun with shaking hands. Abigail pulled her wings over her daughter and scooped her up, making a hasty retreat from the room. The gun went off as they flew out, Abigail bracing them against the door so the threat could not escape into the monster world.

Neither of them noticed the crowd gathered around them, both still panting from the experience. Abby was about to say something when she felt something wet against her side. She gasped.

"You're shot," she whispered.

Abigail harrumphed. "It's going to take a lot more than a bullet to take me down."

Unable to restrain herself, Abby replied smartly, "I'll keep that in mind."

The dean smirked at her, then looked over her shoulder. "Oh. Look at that."

Abby peered over her mother's wing. Sitting prettily in the scream intake chamber sat a full canister of scream energy.

"Your first scream canister," Abigail hummed, nothing but pride in her voice. "And I think I know the perfect place for it."

"Dean Hardscrabble- are you hurt?" a paramedic asked, the first to come forward. Abigail rewarded him with a shriek.

Abby gently touched her mother's lapel. "You have to go," she murmured worriedly. "You're hurt."

Abigail looked at her helplessly. "They'll separate us."

"What, the great Dean Hardscrabble can't demand for us to be in the same room?" Abby asked dryly, lifting a brow.

"I'll make sure you're together," a voice came. They both looked up to see a familiar face to the both of them. But, for one, one sorely missed.

"Bonnie," Abigail whispered. The snake monstress leveled her with a careful look, neither warm nor cold. Then she nodded.

Paramedics then swooped in, separating mother and daughter and lifting them onto stretchers. Abigail locked eyes with her former lover, until a certain young monstress broke her gaze.

"Don't worry, Mummy, I'll make sure you're all taken care of!"

"Arabella," Abigail breathed in relief, reaching for her daughter. She held a hand against Arabella's cheek, smiling warmly. Then her eyes fell to her dress. "Arabella?! What is this? Why do you have blood on your clothes?!"

Arabella simply smiled. "Long story. See you when you wake up!"

Abigail clawed through the paramedics' anesthesia and called Arabella's name until she fell under.

* * *

The white room was a blur when Abigail first opened her eyes. As she blinked, it slowly came into focus. She was in a hospital room, laying on a hospital bed. Her stomach beat with a dull pain.

"You're finally awake," came a dry voice. "I'll alert the media. They've been camped outside the hospital for three days."

Abigail looked over to see her youngest daughter laying in the bed next to hers. Abby looked exhausted, but otherwise all right. Her arm was bandaged with thick stripes of gauze.

"Abigail," the dean muttered blearily. "How are you feeling?"

"My arm is sore, and I'm going stir crazy, but otherwise I'm in perfect health." Abby still didn't meet her eyes, instead choosing to stare straight ahead. "More than I can say for you. Doctors say you're gonna be bedridden for a long time."

"Wonderful." Abigail rolled her eyes. When Abby didn't say anything more, she paused. There was so much to say...but how to say it all? "Abigail, I owe you an apology."

"Look, I get it, it's fine," Abby said unexpectedly. "I've been thinking about it a lot these past three days. And I totally get why you don't want or love me. It's fine. I can learn to live with it. And I won't do any more dangerous shit to get your attention. I'm going to focus on school and my career. So you don't have to worry."

Abigail blinked. "Well, I'm glad to hear you won't be putting yourself in more danger. But I'm afraid you're wrong."

"What?" Abby hissed, turning to look at her for the first time.

"You're wrong," Abigail said simply. "I do love you. And I always have. From the minute I knew of you, I have loved you." While Abby blinked in shock, she continued. "And that's what I wanted to talk to you about. You are my daughter, Abigail, and nothing will change that. But I was always too proud to tell you that. You were right, I was concerned about how I would look with children from an affair. What I should have been concerned with was you, and how you felt. You felt rejected, unwanted, but nothing could be further from the truth. And you deserve to know the truth, all of it. So here it is: I love you, and your brother, and your mother. And I am absolutely terrified by it."

"Even Mama?" Abby wondered.

"More than you know." Abigail closed her eyes, sighing. "I never once stopped loving her. She was always in my thoughts, in my dreams. I made excuses to 'bump into her' just to see her. I was always so cruel to her. Afraid of my own feelings, I suppose. I'm surprised she even looks at me now."

Abby stared at her for a few moments, mulling over her words. Then she rose from her bed, approaching the dean's bed. Her claws folded over each other as she stood nervously, unsure how to ask the question.

Abigail seemed to read her mind, her mouth twisting up at the corners. She opened her arms and made room on the bed. Abby crawled under the sheets, snuggling up against Abigail's side. Abigail stroked her head.

"So it's true, then," Abby murmured in awe.

"Every word," Abigail chuckled. "And, Abigail? Your roar was perfect."

"No, you're right, I have a little hiss. We'll just have to work on it."

"I would be glad to. Abigail...I want to be part of your life. Would you let me?"

Abby smiled, closing her eyes. "It's Abby, okay?"

"Abby, then."

The door opened to reveal Arabella, basket of goodies in hand. When she saw the sight on Abigail's bed, she almost squealed in excitement. "Oh my goodness! Mummy! And Abby! Oh, I have to get a picture of this!" Arabella retrieved a camera from her bag and, quick as a flash, the camera went off. Both Abigails grumbled in protest but knew Arabella would never delete the photo.

"Soooo? Did you guys work it out? Can we be a family?" Arabella asked excitedly, bouncing on her feet as Nate and Bonnie entered. The Abigails blinked, exchanged looks, and blushed.

"Arabella," Abigail said gently. "It's more complicated than that. What about your father?"

Arabella's grin slid from her face. She looked back at Bonnie, who smiled and nodded in encouragement. Taking a deep breath, Arabella sat down on the edge of the bed. "Mummy...I have something to tell you."

Abigail listened. She heard all about how her so-called "husband" had been manipulating, berating, and even threatening their young daughter behind her back. Arabella had grown up thinking she was flawed, that she was a disgrace to Abigail, and that Abigail did not love her. Arabella's scars were from herself, not from an intruder, because she had been so distraught over herself that she had clawed herself up. When Derek raised his hand to her, her son had stepped in. But it was Arabella who ended it, stabbing him in the eye with a pin.

To say Abigail was not pleased was the understatement of the century.

But she immediately calmed when Arabella flinched in fear. No, Derek's punishment would have to wait. Arabella needed to know that her mother was not angry with her.

Abigail pulled her daughter close and wrapped her arms around her.

"Arabella. Listen to me. You are not a disgrace. You are a beautiful, incredibly gifted monstress. I love you and nothing will change that. You did a very, very brave thing and I am so proud of you."

Arabella sniffed, breaking out of the embrace to meet Abigail's eyes with watery ones. Her mother put a hand on her cheek, looking pained. "Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered in despair.

"I thought you agreed with him," Arabella wept.

"Oh, Arabella." Abigail embraced her again, rubbing her back soothingly as Arabella burst into tears. "Shh. It's okay, darling. Let it out."

Once her tears had dried, Abigail pulled away but kept a hand on hers. "Arabella, sweetheart, if you ask it, I will personally make sure he never even sees you again. Is that something you want?"

"I...I don't know," Arabella whimpered. "This is all so much..."

"I understand. For now, though, until I recover, would you mind too terribly if I separated you?"

"That's fine...you need to focus on getting better. You can't worry about me."

"Arabella, I will worry about you until my dying breath. And I promise, it won't all be boring. What would you say about your brother and sister staying with us?"

Arabella blinked the tears from her eyes, and her mouth slowly turned up. "Really? You're saying...we- we're all going to be a family?" she piped hopefully.

"Whoa, whoa." Abigail stopped her daughter before she got ahead, her brows as high as they would go. "A family? _All _of us?"

"Yes! Me, Abby, Nate, you, and Ms. Flint!" Arabella looked back to smile at Bonnie, who turned her mouth up awkwardly in return. Abigail simply stared at her. "Arabella, there's no- we're rushing- Ms. Flint would _never-_"

"Oh, don't worry about that. I've already patched things up between you two! Just like making a stitch," Arabella replied cheerfully, motioning with her hands. "She's not mad at you anymore, and we've decided we have _lots_ of mother/step-daughter bonding to catch up on!"

"Has she really," Abigail asked weakly, meeting Bonnie's eyes with a plea in her eyes.

Bonnie answered the plea with a sigh as she slithered forward. "I don't know if I'm not mad anymore, but," she glanced at Abigail, "I'm willing to give it a shot. If you are."

Abigail swallowed. "You're more than welcome at my home. I just hope...I don't end up disappointing you again."

Bonnie smirked at this, deciding to rattle the elder monstress even more. She swayed forward in a flirty manner. "Don't worry," she purred, trapping a defenseless Abigail under her arm as their eyes met. "I think I know your most disappointing parts by now."


End file.
